Sinister -- Goodness. In betwixt Miss Llew's and Mr Brier's talk of female masturbation I was left all agog. Such talk, honestly! My ears will be burning for days. We all know girls are quite lovely, but some things ought not to be discussed in a public forum. There are children about (possibly)! [It's understandable Laura Llew would mention such things, being a porn star and all. You know she is. Look at all the boys and girls positively Swooning over her.] Fortunately, I was swooning over Miss Rrrobyn* **. I mean, anyone on Friendster knows I love a good pair of boots, but then there was Le Tigre! And scarves! And THE EAVES! I love the Eaves: their self titled debut is a lovely album, with overtones of 80s Synth and bits of Surf Rick guitar and Cure-y lushness. I managed to get it on playlist for my radio station WXDU (www.wxdu.org/listen) and get tickets for their show. Which they promptly cancelled. Pfft to that. I still love them though, especially their sing Bird Lawyer. Oh yeah. Dear Rrrobyn, I so want to run away to Canada. If only I could deal with the cold in a fashionable manner. Alas, GayJay + cute boots + wintry conditions = GayJay on his less-than-fashionable side. She also likes "Roy Walker". I though I was the only one to do so. I don't understand the objections to it. Am I the only one to remember (selective bits of) being 17? I always mean to get around to saying something serious, yet my venial dedication to the trivial (think that one over) always wins. But here goes: I hear over and over again, "The music of Belle and Sebastian just doesn't FEEL the same any more." I think that was what the ever-delightful and delightfully fiesty Ms Idleberry*** was getting at when she remarked about Tigermilk 5.0. Dear hearts -- and I mean this to the folk what remember when Dr Who was still bopping about TARDIS-style -- I don't think it's entirely them. To be fair, a bit of it is. We can't seriously expect them to keep knocking out Sinister-era songs over and over again. The band are artists, after all, and we can't expect them to keep mining the same thing. They need to change; to move on. Look at Mr Shakespeare. He went from fart jokes in the Comedy of Errors to the fascinatingly rich works like The Tempest, Hamlet and Coriolanus (His best work. Seriously. Pity no one reads it). Generally speaking, I find, like Our Will's plays, Belle and Sebastian's music to have increased in complexity -- and at least to me, interest. [Umm, to say nothing of actual performance technique.] And that's not to say that Dear Catastrophe Waitress is inferior to If You're Feeling Sinister, no more than to say The Comedy of Errors is better than Hamlet. They do different things, in different ways. But -- and this, like my own, is a rather big but -- like the band, we, the fans, have changed as well. God knows, it's been a while since some of us first heard those dulcet tones. In the interim, Things have happened to us. I dare say one or two of us have grown up a bit. I pity anyway who hasn't managed to change in those years, as they will have utterly wasted them. But, if the songs don't reach us like they used to, if they don't MEAN what they did, it may be simply that they oughtn't to in quite the same way. Maybe we don't need music like a crutch as we once did. Maybe wanting the music to be the same is a form of nostalgia, and isn't that always a little self-indulgent? Not that the music (then or now) doesn't still have power and meaning. I see the young people frequently writing into Sinister with a new voice whose opnions echoed mine when I was X-teen. I have incredible memories of some of the tunes when I forst heard them I'll always carry with me. But I keep getting new ones. And new takes on old ones. Does "Seeing Other People" mean the same thing to me now as it did in 1997? Hardly. Back then, I didn't even /have/ a boyfriend to have a tangled, confused past with. Even later, "There's Too Much Love" didn't mean shit to me till I was literally broke, friendless and dazed. Then, it when I was, that song was my little piece of the world. Now, it shows me what I can do with myself to get out of that state (I was in. Sorry. Bad Pun). And that, dear tykes, is the mark of greatness. That something can contain enough Stuff to have that much meaning -- multiple things just to one person, let alone a bunch. But then again, maybe I'm just projecting my incipient decripitude on everbody here. But. Here's the content. Two Fold. One -- and this is directed to the South East regional US Folk--Party at Mine before the Show! I know a couple of folks rolling into town for the show on the 27th. I know more who have a oddish block of time between work and Show. What to do? To Que! I'm going to have a little Barbeque that afternoon/evening before the show. There'll be grilled meat products, cheap beer (Can you say PBR?) and amusing local personalities. Come! Invite your loved ones! Gawk at Laura Llew! Get trashed and make a pass at a DJ! More info to come. Two -- and this is dedicate to the Folks in Scotchland -- Does anyone/ did anyone attend Glasgow University? Is it a Swell Place? Does it have Good Programs? I'm applying there for graduate school (In Dramaturgy) and wondered what the local Word about it was. That's all. Return to your regularly scheduled programs, GayJay *It has been noted (perjoratively) that I get crushes on girls, yet am a Poof. Umm, well. I do. It's not a /Romantic/ thing, and 'Crush' sounds much more pleasant than 'unhealthy obsession' doesn't it? **If pressed, my current boy-type crushes are on this Doctor named Coop on ER (whom, I might add, I'd punch in the puss if I ever actually met) and possibly on Brier Random. Has anyone actually SEEN this guy? If he seriously looks like the pic up on the Picture Page, I am *so* starting to pine for him as the moon does the sunset, but as someone once said "No-one on Sinister looks /that/ good****." ***Whose 25th Birthday is Saturday. I trust plans are afoot to celebrate in a Style She Can Become Accustomed To. My dear, the Hope Diamond was a bit pricey -- not to mention difficult to subtly procure -- but I felt it was appropriate. I'm sending it over in Joanna Southcott's box with a few stamps on. Let me know when it arrives. ****Though I'm not sure of that. I'll need to inspect a few people in person before I can issue that particular fatwah. Please make arrangements accordingly. -- "The Posby falls into a Trance In which it does a little Dance." Edward Gorey _________________________________________________________________ Share your photos without swamping your Inbox. 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