Hello Sinister! Some really exciting things have happened this past weekend! I want to share my Belle & Sebastian experience with you. That is what this post is about. Ben already posted about our trip to Berkeley to see the show on Friday. I have to add that the Greek Theatre venue in Berkeley is spectacular. It is gorgeous looking, almost bowl-shaped the way that the stone step seating graduates up to the top, with gigantic stone columns as the backdrop to the stage and lots of greenery surrounding the area. The sound was so rich, much better than at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, which actualy was pretty damn good. Before the Berkeley show, we met up at the International House Cafe right by the venue. Toy Stephen was there, remember him from Sinister days of yore? The wonderful Katie Odle and I both agreed (when her boyfriend Jeremy and Ben weren't present, of course!) that Stephen is a Hunk-a-saurus Rex. That is also where I met Deborah and Solomon, the San Francisco Treasure Hunt planners. We talked a fair bit about our experiences planning treasure hunts in LA and SF. It was so great. Up until that time, the treasure in SF had not been found. Katie was determined to find the treasure after the show. As it got closer to showtime, the dashing Ian Rivamonte showed up with a bunch of his friends, and we had quite a nice gathering. As it turned out, Katie and Jeremy solved the treasure hunt clues and went to the final destination only to discover that the treasure had already been claimed only moments before, according to Deborah by someone named Kevin. Katie was very sad. But she is still a winner in my eyes. *sniff* Anyone who got photos of the Berekely show, if you have any with Deborah and Solomon onstage, please let me know. They didn't get any documentation of getting their medals, and would really like photos if there are any out there. Fast-forward to the Los Angeles meeting place - a field next to the parking lot of the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. It was just Ben and myself for quite a while. He set up the cricket stumps and I chased the ball down the hill several times through the parking lot. We could hear the sound check, and they were playing "Video Killed The Radio Star" and Ben so quickly put the pieces together that the DCW (DICKWIPE?) producer was Trevor Horn of the Buggles. I wasn't so sure it was actually Trevor singing or maybe just Stuart doing a really good rendition of it. Adrian Rudloff arrived, as did Phil, my best friend Vicky and The Treasure Hunt Winners Mandy, Crystal and Esther along with Alex and Scott. It was so great to meet the people who solved my and Peter Crooks' carefully orchestrated puzzle. I believe it was Stuart who later said the winners are like the Charlie's Angels, and I have to agree! Sat in the field, they were trying to decide if they would sing a song with B&S onstage that night or request a song, and if so, which song? They decided they'd like to have a crack at "Family Tree" and sang it beautifully for us picnickers. It was brilliant because Katrina had left 3rd row tickets and backstage passes for us at the box office, which Mandy and I discovered when we went up to try to find her. The set was only slightly different from that in Berkeley, from what I can recall. The people around us were mostly seated through the show, which was odd, because everywhere I looked, people were standing up and dancing. So Ben, Mandy, Esther and Crystal and I stood up and danced for a good number of songs. I wasn't about to sacrifice a good time that was to be had just because I was sat by people who were uninspired. We were all a bit nervous through the show, wondering when Stuart would ask the Treasure Hunt winners and planners to go up onstage. Before we knew it, they left the stage! We were shocked. They came back for an encore of "Video Killed The Radio Star" with Trevor Horn on vocals. It was amazing, but I had a hard time enjoying it because I was worried that Stuart forgot about the Treasure Hunt. Then came Judy And The Dream Of Horses, and Stuart said that he DID forget about the Treasure Hunt, but that he would talk to Mandy backstage. I'd be lying if I said that we weren't all terribly disappointed. It's pretty crap cos they even published with the clues that going up to request a song or sing a song with the band was part of the prize. I had seen what he had in store for the Treasure Hunt planners up in Berkeley, as well, and so I had expectations (which is the root of most turmoil in my life in general - expectations.) Ian Rivamonte was a superstar again, and got to go onstage and so the speaking bit in "Dirty Dream Number 2" and danced around like a maniac, it was great! The boy with the dark curly hair and glasses who did the speaking part in DD#2 in Berekely also returned to the stage in LA to dance during "Judy and The Dream Of Horses." Ian was also onstage again, and got the setlist, which was: Fuck This Shit Expectations There's Too Much Love Step Into My Office, Baby Like Dylan in the Movies Travellin' Light Women's Realm Lord Anthony If You Find Yourself Caught in Love Scooby Driver I Don't Love Anyone The Boy with the Arab Strap The State I Am In Jonathan David Dirty Dream #2 String Bean Jean Roy Walker Sleep the Clock Around Video Killed the Radio Star Judy and the Dream of Horses After the show, Ben, Mandy, Crystal and Esther and I went backstage, and had a seat in a corner. They even had the treasure with them, which was inside of a Belle & Sebastian cereal box that I created to house the treasure box from Stuart. One of the girls took the other two's backstage passes and went out to find Alex and Scott and they also came backstage.(super genius!) First, we spotted Sarah, and I let her know that the Treasure Hunt winners were sat in the corner and that they would love to meet her and get a photo with her. She said that she was going back to the area where the band were and she would let Stuart know as well. It was great because as I saw memebrs of Belle & Sebastian, I'd approach them and usher them over to the girls for a chance to chat and get photos. I felt like I was their agent or something. Stuart came over and gave us all shirts - the ones that I designed the logo for! He explained that he forgot about the Treasure Hunt, and also he had left the medals for me and Peter at the hotel, and also Stevie allegedly was getting uptight about the time because they ran over too late in Berkeley. Stuart left his jacket at the table, so I put it on and went over to talk to him a while later. On the way, I had a nice conversation with Marissa who is the model on the cover of the 'Fans Only' DVD, and Lisa, who bought Stuart's car. Stuart said that he'd come over and get his jacket from me before he left and that I could continue wearing it! I was more than thrilled! The band spent a lot of time in that backstage after-party area. Chris came in urgently toward the end with his dj gear and was heading over to The Derby where he'd be spinning. He quickly posed with the Treasure Hunt kids and talked for a little bit. His moustache and glasses just reminded me of Ned Flanders from The Simpsons! Sarah said that the band might return to the States in October, but most likely will play in cities they didn't get to go to on this short tour. Stuart said that this time they wanted to do a few outdoor summer shows so that everyone would get high and listen to the tunes and take in the scenery. I was very happy to finally meet the lovely Katrina House from Banchory. Despite the fact that she had her hands full, she was very kind to us all. After the backstage thing, Ben and I gave Richard and Dan the engineer a ride to The Derby. I stupidly left my ID at home, and Mick and Stuart didn't have theirs either and couldn't get into the club, they were extremely strict at the door. We stood outside for a while, speaking with Sarah and Mick and a couple of friends (Jane Rockwood and Sandra Christiansen.) Ben and I decided to depart since it was getting on past midnight and we had to work the next morning. Most of the band was going off to another location. Before we left, Ben took a photo of me and Mick in the back of a Volvo! If you'd like to see our photos, they are at www.brapps.net/belles/ I know this is getting obnoxiously long, so I'll try to wrap it up. Believe it or not, some of us have been fans of Belle & Sebastian for *nearly* as long as Jennifer Juniper has, yet still enjoyed the show immensely. Despite all of this personal contact I had with them this time around, I have to keep in mind that it isn't going to always be like that. I have learned my lesson the hard way in the past. Sometimes one starts to expect special treatment and considers themselves to be better connected to the band than they are. The best connection, in my opinion, is in my car singing along and harmonizing with Ben. Or in my bedroom, jumping on the bed listening to "The Lonliness Of The Middle-Distance Runner." I think how you feel about the music depends a lot on what sort of relationship you have with it. I want to keep mine based on the essence of it; they tend to make songs I enjoy and want to sing along and dance to. Jennifer said "the beauty and fragility were gone and replaced by slick production." I have to disagree. I still noticed missed notes and mixed up lyrics, as usual. Besides, if it really were such a slick production, then the Treasure Hunt wouldn't have been overlooked, don'tcha think? If you missed B&S on KCRW yesterday, they have it archived on their site at: http://www.kcrw.com/cgi-bin/db/kcrw.pl?show_code=mb&tmplt_type=program Just scroll down to "Recent Programs" That's all from me for now! love, Rachel fruitloop-Apps __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.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 +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+