How ironic! hello all. this is my intro to the luverly list here. i hope you'll all be kind. B&S fans are the greatest audiences in the world! YEEE_HA!!! ok. so i'm new to the list but have been into the group for a while now, along with one of my bestest friends in the whole universe who has introduced me to the sinister list. and this is my story. you may want to pull up a chair. i promise it will be (mostly) belle and sebastian related...with a load of teeny-bopper, scaredy-cat stalking and schoolgirl giggling interspersed. so, i live WAY out in "BFE" missouri, no wheres ville. where b/s would, i'm sure, never venture in a million lifetimes, at least not until they're opening for Hanson, hehe. My friend is luckier, being close to the east coast. she invited me to join her on a mad pilgrimage to DC on OcT 30, to see our newlly found musical heroes. after much soulsearching, i agreed and took the plunge. i arrived in roanoke on thursday afternoon. we were to take a bus to DC that evening at 9 pm. unfortunately, we werent' even sure we could get on the bus in time. and More unfortunately, i didnt' even have a ticket to the show. miraculously we caught the bus within the last minute and arrived in DC at 3"30 am, two disheveled girls in tattered flare jeans and fuzzy sweaters, with no map and no car, and a whole day to spend until the show started. we ended up at the lincoln memorial around 5 am or so, it was totally deserted. so we had a little party, reading aloud from jeannette winterson books and poetry we wrote, and singing "la Pastie" and consecrating a Tiger's Milk energy bar in a sacred communion. the sun rose and we took off across the reflecting pool, with Mrs. Duck's happy blessing. (dont' ask). We wandered around town until our feet seemed to have been crushed with hammers. it was only 2 pm. in frustration, and without any convenient ideas to amuse ourselves, we took the subway to the street where the Black Cat was located. just to hang around and perhaps ask some worker or person if there were tickets we couild get hold of. that was all. we arrived on the street and a tour bus was parked there. jess started shrieking under her breath, "oh mygod, ohmygod, it's them!" about a million times. there was Stu M. and lovely Isobel, on the sidewalk yards in front of us. we panicked and starting giggling like morons and didn't knwo what to do. isobel looked even cuter in person. we sat down on the pavement just away from the bus cos we were too embarrassed to go talk to them, so we had to make a plan. i was afraid they saw us laughing and thought we were little junior high skool idiots who were stalking them. oh and i forgot to mention i was wearing a necklace that said "I *heart* Isobel* and her necklace said "I *heart* stu M." which was rather embarrassing. Shortly, sarah and chris and stuart d were out, and then sarah was by herself. i suggested we should go talk to her cos she looked nice, and we had read her interview in chickfactor and she seemed cool. so we walked up and asked if we could take pictures with her. silly sarah! "well, i dont' know if the other members are about.." she says, modestly, as if she were chopped liver! We still wanted to talk to her, so she said ok, and she took pictures of us too, and chris and stu D. as well. we asked her if she knew if there were any tickets left , and she asked if we were ok. we said, no...and she said, "well, i can just put you on the List". and a guy came out with a little notebook and they wrote our names down, along with Gail chickfactor, on the guest list. we died promptly and thanked her ever so much. we saw them off to go sightseeing, and went to eat lunch. we died a few more times, panicked some, and returned an hour later to resume our lonely post on the pavement. It started to get cold and a guy who we thought was Neil came out and talked to us. we talked about the tour, and he was ever so nice and offered us smokes even though neither of us smoked, i thought that was pretty kind of him. after a while he said it was getting chilly and if we wanted we could probably wait inside, because we reallly didn't have anyplace to go until then. we said "Really??" and followed him in. i think we died about a million times in that moment. inside we got to sit at the back of the club and watch them soundcheck, and chris and stuart D. and stevie and all them were playing pool and we chatted more with sarah, who had bought some whilte house paper dolls and postcards on her trip. Then Jess froze in her seat, as Stuart M. was clearly coming up the way, he was wearing a strange dark green mailman's type jacket with a US flag on the breast, and his hair was like a little kids', and he talked to the other guy for a minute before he turned to us and asked both our names and shook our hands. "hello, i'm Stuart," he says (no, Really!!??) and he was so polite and friendly. We gave him a tiger's milk bar and took pictures and he has such the cutest smile in the world. We thought he would not talk to us again, but later he returned shining a big red apple in his hand, almost shyly, and said something to the effect of "i've been shining this apple, and it looks so delicious, but i changed my mind, do you want it?" We looked at each other in disbelief and accepted the shiny apple, and i think stuart M. is probably the nicest guy in the world just for that. we promptly shared the apple. (He also looks so adorable when he takes a shot with a pool cue, and sticks his tongue out the corner like a little boy!) The band members kept coming up to us and apologizing for how bored we must be. Silly things!! and they were dead serious!!! the only thing left for me that evening, was to see isobel. she had been retiring most of the time, but later she came into the club and was walking around. she looked so adorable and sweet, and jumped down off a bench like a little pixy, and i was so embarrassed because she kept looking over in our direction. despite my friend's begging, i was unable to retain my composure to actually walk up and speak to her. i'm ashamed to say so, but i was shaking like a leaf and so terrified that she would see my necklace and think me creepy..............(*sniff*) in a ny case, we got to watch them rehearse before the show, and actually it was more exciting i believe than the actual show, because they played i don't love anyone, and stars of track and field, and we were the only people in the audience, really. it was so beautiful we were overcome by it, and isobels' cello was gorgeous, and stu did sing like an angel, and he even played REM's 'Don't Go Back to Rockville" at one point which amused me completely. and yes, his arms are beautiful, i thought during the show, and i believe stu M. is the cutest boy i have ever seen, and this is more amazing considering that i have not used the word "cute" and "boy" in teh same breath for at least 3 years now. So i have a big non-sexual crush on Stu, and a big high school crush on isobel,. When she came out in that tiger bonnet and tight little black outfit, i thought my heart would explode, i think if she were any more adorable and sexy she would die of terminal cuteness, and i can't really speak of it now because it's just difficult for me.....Sarah smiled at us during the show, and once while i was taking one of my billion pics of isobel, stuart M. looked at me for a very long time and smiled, as if he knew.......They didnt' play all our faves. like Pastie, pHoto Jenny, Judy, Belle and Sebastian, but the best ones were Mayfly, Dylan in the Movies, Stars of track and Field, sleep the Clock Around, and dog on Wheels. Of course the highlight of my evening was that Isobel played "Wicked", so i was satisfied as can be expected. After the end, I managed to snag Isobel's set list, because the guy was the same one who had let us in, and he was looking after us i imagine. (does anyone know if they all write out their own set lists??) We had to leave them in the evening, we got our bags from down the bar, we had to catch a bus......*sniffle* It was so sad to leave without saying hi to isobel, or thanking them all for being so sweet, but the crowd was big, and we had to get home. I can't get into the full account, but it was the most amazing trip i have ever experienced, and besides beign the most brilliant musicians, Belle and Sebastian are among the kindest people you could meet, not so mysterious after all.. they didnt' have to even speak to us, but they totally made our year and gave us an incredibly beautiful time. Words cannot express. soon enough we will have to find some feeble way of making it up to them. until then, i shall keep a photo of isobel at my side and hope that one day soon, she'll know...... I hope this wasn't too much, and it didnt' put you to sleep. i'm glad to be on the list. sign me, iheartisobel +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+