My pretties: Tempted as I am to grizzle and moan on about the couple of weeks I've had, I'll instead affect a chipper demeanour and attempt to stay within spitting distance of topic. SINISTER Being the closest thing I've had to actual human contact for most of the last little while, I'm feeling somewhat gushy towards you lot, so I'll take this opportunity to let each of you know that I love you like my very own brothers and sisters, and you're all welcome back to mine any time you like. That goes double for the #sinister types who've kept me company in the wee hours, and listened to all manner of sleep-deprived nonsense. Bless your cotton socks. A NIGHT OUT I managed to get a night off this week, and on the whole, it was an absolute corker. Saw a very talented mate of mine play a gig, the unquestionable highlight of which was a cover of the ever-popular 'Touch Me' by Sam Fox. He starts out making it sound very serious and restrained, then gradually loosens his grip on it, as he heads inexorably for the chorus. A handsome reinterpretation of a modern day classic. It's a delight to stand and watch the faces of audience members change as they recognise the song that they've been studiously swaying along to for the past minute or two. Outstanding. Following which was an evening of odd, deceptive, sweet drinks in large numbers of small glasses, liberally interspersed with generous gin and tonics. The shaking of booty and the talking of nonsense also featured throughout. I'd not otherwise mention this, as it's more or less par for the course, except that a select few of us regular sorts were able to stay on after closing and have the run of the place. Many completely superfluous drinks were consumed, and the sound and light system were commandeered. My bag contained my discman, with my IYFS cd in it, so we gave that a spin and listened to just about the whole box and dice, and danced about like a pack of mad people to 'Get Me Away...' in the empty club. Not often you get to hear that out, at least not in this particular backwater. Borderline content, to be sure, but fun for the whole family nevertheless. MY OLD MAN Well, the old man turns out to be quite the dark horse. He comes to visit, and finds me in an as yet unfit state to receive him. So, I press 'play' on the stereo, and go and get respectable (or the closest approximation I can manage). I re-emerge, resplendent, to find him doing a little jig to Jonathan David. Blimey, perhaps I'm not the milkman's after all. ARE B&S CRAP? In a word, no. The new stuff is, well, new, which neither surprises nor bothers me. I think that Jonathan David is a bit of an ugly duckling of a song, and I'm surprised how much I've come to like it over the last little while. It's as much the soundtrack to my current day-to-day as anything. It's also the weakest of the tracks on the single - TYCCASI could use an ending and an original melody, but I can't help but love it, and TLOAMDR is still great in it's 'rawk-lite' incarnation. The peel session is glorious, and a pretty good example of how much more diverse the songwriting in the band is at the moment. Yes, I wouldn't be complaining if they managed to cobble together another IYFS, but they won't, so they may as well push on and try a few things out. I'm all for it. I can almost forgive them for Beyond the Sunrise. Wait, no I can't. ISOBEL'S ARSE Since there's no chance of me getting to a gig in the foreseeable, it's been grand to hear about pretty much all of them, albeit at second hand. I am, however, sick of hearing about the size of Isobel's arse. I've not seen a photograph of it (panoramic or otherwise, as some might suggest), but I choose to picture it as being just about the right size, when listening. Much in the same way, I choose to imagine that each and every one of you is the perfect embodiment of man/womanhood as I read. I'm sure I'm correct on both counts, and I'd rather not be proven wrong. PROPS To Lorraine for her smashing onstage performance. I don't know you, and I wasn't there, but someone was kind enough to point me in the direction of an mp3, and it's a tidy bit of work. Hats off. To Gordon for his last post. You've a way with words, and I don't think I've ever read any of your posts just the once. Top shelf. Bulk love, -Stankin (Crap Australian, Lousy Perfectionist and Cod Relationship Expert) _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the 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 +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+