Am I allowed to report back on my own shenanigans? I guess we¹re all doing that on here, in some way or another. So here goes. What I got up to when I went on a mini DJ-ing tour of the country last month. OXFORD JUNE 20TH: In the company of my musical supervisor and attorney Rupert, we made our way to Oxford. Drove straight past the venue, over a bridge, under spires, slumbering or not. All very pretty. The riverside pubs looked especially inviting. Met up with David and his team, our promoters and hosts for the night. Good room above the pub ­ just one problem. No curtains. It was bright sunlight outside and would be almost til the end of the night, since we were on pub hours. Curtains were needed and found. David informed me that Stuart had pulled out of Nottingham, which was the first I¹d heard of it. Oh well. Had some food downstairs ­ the not very healthy vegetarian option of fried egg in a baguette and chips ­ then up to get things underway. Adam would be our guest for the night and play from half eight til nine. I¹d then do til closing. First hour was nice and calm. Our first paying clubber wanted to hear Dusty and got to sit in the venue by herself (bar me and Rupert) to listen to her request. Got talking to Mark from this parish. Then the girls from Coventry who went to London the night before turned up ­ they wanted to hear more Shangri Las. No problem. Great set from Adam, then it was my turn. My highlights were as follows: … Different Drum by the Lemonheads followed by "Mrs Robinson" by Simon & Garfunkel … 3 Is The Heavenly Option ­ fast becoming a firm favourite … Nipping off to the loo during There Is A LightŠand hearing it skip while I was mid ablution. Erk! It got caught in a loop but David rescued it. There was a huge chod of dust on the needle apparently. Ooops. … The wobbling table. Every time a footstomper came on, the table would wobble and the record start to jump. Not much fun, as I had to spend half the night telling people not to dance so enthusiastically, which is kind of defeating the point. Rupert stepped in to hold said table at one point, but refused point blank to help any further when I cued up Crash. He knew a lost cause when he saw one. Needless to say, fervent bouncing ensued and we hardly made it to the end of the track. … Claire¹s cakes. Very nice. Even if they didn¹t have any OJ in them. I had two That¹s about it. A great night. I really really enjoyed it and will definitely be back. NOTTINGHAM JUNE 21st: After a morning¹s shopping in Oxford ­ a red top for Nottingham ­ a quick and easy drive to Nottingham. Found the venue straight away again. Said hello to Fosca as they were stepping out of their taxi. Met up with Sam, our promoter for the night. Mentioned, at one point, that I needed a copy of Tigermilk and Sinister, and Aline (sorry, if I¹ve spelt that wrong!) kindly took us to her halls of residence to pick up her copies. In return, I promised to play her countrymates Os Mutantes. Which is the sort of deal it¹s always a pleasure to strike up. Went into town. Chatted with Rachel of Fosca then went to listen to some Christian rappers who were playing on a carpark thing in the city centre. One rhyme was excellent "You might believe in Allah or Krishna/And I don¹t wanna diss yaŠ" Genius. Found ourselves in a second hand record shop. As you do. Spent a happy half hour of so sifting through vinyl, playing bits and pieces on the old record players they had there. Bought a couple of things to play that night. The owner wanted to shut up shop but walked us to another second hand record shop. Or at least to the bottom of the hill it was on. Walked up, past every Indian and Chinese take out in town it seemed, to find it closed. My, the excitement of touring life. Went to Selectadisc, bought the first three REM albums on CD for 12 quid. Excellent. Played ŒSuperman¹ that night. Walked past an all you can eat indian buffet place and decided to get some food. Huge mistake. The worst meal I¹ve had for a long long time. Dreadful food, utterly tasteless or completely not what it was meant to be. Disgusting. Makes me feel sick thinking about it now. Back to the venue. DJ downstairs started off with Gay Bar and followed it up with Money by Pink Floyd. I was very excited. From there, he could have gone anywhere. Anywhere! I wanted to stay downstairs and see what esoteric delights would ensue, but alas it all went a bit predictable after that. Ho hum. Blokes dressed as ladies cavorted downstairs. Upstairs the opposite looked likely. Retired upstairs. Fosca were excellent. I¹ve not seen them before but they were truly great, particularly the new songs. Then it was me. A short, almost greatest hits set, but very enjoyable. The folk of Nottingham were clearly up for a dance and even didn¹t seem too perturbed when I played Tainted Love twice by mistake. Met Robin Stout from here, but was mid DJ-ing and a little busy to talk. Sorry Robin. It¹s great that you can go to two different towns and meet people from Sinister. What have we learnt? The following: … Life on tour is all about food. It¹s the one thing that changes. Everything else is pretty much the same. … Life on tour is a string of events, happening in a straight line. Reciting them turns you back into your six year old self. "And then weŠand then weŠand thenŠ" … Being a DJ, playing the same core songs every night, makes you feel weird. Like you¹re being unadventurous. But if it¹s a different crowd then it shouldn¹t matter. A band don¹t worry after all. Did my best to make sure each night was different ­ and it was. But it¹s all in the margins. Enjoyed playing Jonathan Richman in Oxford and Os Mutantes in Nottingham. For those two alone, it was all worth it. Both were fantastic nights and I¹d happily return any time. THE INEVITABLE END BITŠ This Thursday, July 17th, is the last How Does It Feel To Be Loved? on a Thursday. From next month, we'll be on a Friday. Insert your own early Radiohead jokes here. Our guest DJ this month is Phil Wilson of the June Brides. I'll be doing a special "Cor, what a scorcher" tribute set to the big shiny hot thing in the sky. So far that consists of "Heatwave" and that's about it. Any other suggestions? http://www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk x How Does It Feel To Be Loved? is at the Buffalo Bars, underneath Famous Cock Tavern, outside Highbury & Islington tube, London, 9pm-2am. The playlist is: The Smiths * The Supremes * The Go-Betweens * Dusty Springfield * Belle & Sebastian * Tammi Terrell * Aztec Camera * The Ronettes * Orange Juice * Beach Boys * The Temptations * Velvet Underground * Felt * The Shangri-Las * Primal Scream * Otis Redding * The Field Mice * The Stone Roses * Dexys Midnight Runners * The Four Tops * Dolly Parton * The Orchids +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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 +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+