i must confess... i'm still swooning. what started out to be a pretty promising weekend of picnics and parties and gigs turned into one of the most exciting EVER! at least for the ladies amongst us. okay.. so i exhaggerate. a little. but that's what happens when you spend three days unexpectantly in the company of the 15th SEXIEST MAN IN SWEDEN! it might not compare to being in the company of our esteemed peer, the 4th SEXIEST MAN IN ICELAND, but pretty damn close i'd imagine. and this one has a singing voice like velvet. mmmmm it all started on friday. i went to the pub with the lovely MATT and NAL, who calmly informed me that mr studmuffin himself was going to be at NPL (as in 'knee deep at the NPL' by my other favourite songsters camera obscura) that evening. WHOA! i was already looking forward to his sunday gig as the highlight of my weekend.. i never actually expected to MEET the fella! or *gasp* DANCE with him! mmmmm. i got giddy with excitement. GIDDY! like a silly schoolgirl! in fact, the feeling didn't really leave me all weekend. it's a bit embarassing. (and i probably shouldn't be continuing and documenting it here, but what the hell eh?) i wasn't the only one, either. i get the feeling girls melt at his feet wherever he goes. the boys among us seemed quite amused to see our reactions. and were quite confused when they finally met the man himself. ok, i have to admit, he wasn't quite as sexy as i remember him - from a distance, at a gig in boston months ago. his forehead was wide and his frame was small and he was just wearing a plain old jeans and tee shirt. and he spent much of the time sitting quiet and forlorn and bored looking. but still... there was something about him... still giddy, i ran to my friends CATHY and KATIE (of this camp? i have no idea anymore.. i lose track of who is sinister and who i actually met independently) and chattered away and pointed excitedly and all around squealed. katie seemed simply amused. cathy quickly became a convert, and i think by the end of the night she was even more keen than i was, which is saying something. there was an embarassing moment when we first met. TARA introduced us - he was staying on her and CALUMN'S couch - and he looked at me funny and said 'have we met before? you look so familiar'. i have a confession to make here, sinisterenes. i found jens on friendster a while back and sent him a pretty pathetic message... something along the lines of 'you're amazing. i love you. when are you coming to glasgow? can we be friends?' surprisingly, he never replied! and now it seems that perhaps he had committed my image to memory - or printed it out and posted it on his wall - with the word STALKER emblazoned across the bottom. er... yeah... i feigned ignorance and our relationship moved on from there. by 'relationship' i mean me occasionally plopping onto the seat next to him making silly small talk between dances, and swooning from a distance. mmmmm. at one point we also danced together (with TARA) to annie. magic. anyway.. before parting company at closing time, i nonchalently asked what jens was up to the following day. he said: 'oh, i dunno. i think there's a party and... a picnic?' PICNIC! he was referring to THE SINISTER PICNIC! the one i half-assed help throw together at the last minute. oh. my. god. no pressure to now make it FABULOUS or anything!!! that, and the fact that LINDA was coming all the way down from edinburgh to attend! eeks! i woke up early on saturday, fully intending to get my ass in gear and bake cakes and be super organised... only to fall back asleep, not rising until 1 PM! and the picnic was to start at 2! ack! i assumed - rightly so - that everyone would be at least an hour late. but still, that gave me next to no time to prepare, and definitely not enough time to bake. so RICHARD and i ended up running to the corner shop for sandwiches and pringles and the most vile fairy cakes i have ever had to misfortune to taste. ew. the weather was less than promising. actually, it was very promising when we first walked out the door - blue skies and happy white puffy clouds - but by the time we got down the street, the good old glasgow grey had returned, threatening rain. still, we managed to stick it out (only slightly freezing) for a few hours on a picnic table near the fountain in kelvingrove park. slowly they trickled in. first came ALLY, with CHRIS LEONARD and JULIA and a lovely dog! yay! i was excited to see a dog. made it feel like a proper picnic! and unexpected old skool sinisterene attendence too! wow! then came LINDA. and eventually LYNSEY and LINDSEY (a renegade member of that OTHER board, but we don't hold it against her). and then there was CALUMN and TARA (sans jens, sadly, but sans pressure too, which was kinda good). after some eating and chatting and lots of shivering, we finally caved in and headed indoors, to the under-new-management-again-thank-goodness TAP pub, classic haunt of the sinister picnic. the music was pretty awful in that cheesy (but not even fun) 80s way. but even that grew on us after awhile. more importantly, the place was empty, so we were able to commandeer an entire corner couch section for our own nefarious purposes. we whiled away a few quiet hours drinking, and MATT and NAL popped in and it was generally very relaxed and comforting. not as wild and crazy as usual, but hey, we're all a bit older and wiser from those first few meet-ups eight years ago. we reflected on the past, paid tribute to those not present (namely, HONEY, who was busy manning the controls at mission #sinister, but nonetheless was sent a little pressie) and compared red knickers. mmmmm we scattered at about 7pm, being surprisingly responsible, and regrouped later at RICHARD JOHN GILLANDERS and ALLY's flat for a bit of a housewarming/CATHY going-away party. the party was pretty hopping by midnight, full of people i didn't even know! and jens, of course *swoon* and some finn/swede record producer guy, who was the toughest conversationalist i've ever encountered! let's see, who else from sinister was there? er... PATRICK DOYLE. and... er... gosh, i dunno. it's all a blur. the following day, sunday, many of us gathered again at mono for the GIG. it was finally time to see jens at his performing best. and as an added bonus, he was to be joined on stage by bill wells and isobel campbell! yup, that one! and stephen pastel was on the decks. and stevie jackson and momus were in the crowd. and i'm pretty sure there were other notables there as well, i just can't remember them all now. after opening act uter, bill wells was in control of the motley crew, and there was lots of freeform jazz. i think it was quite good, if that's your sort of thing, which it's not... mine, that is. then jens took the stage - solo at first - and it was AMAZING. i think the girl behind me was actually crying. i was certainly swooning where i stood. and there's not much else i want to say about that. afterwards, there was talk of continuing the action with a bit of dancing at optimo with TARA and jens and the finn/swede producer and the camera obscura fellas (minus GAV who was mysteriusly absent through all these proceedings, despite the presence of his better half... hmmmmmmmm) but it never happened. instead, i returned home to my bed to nestle up and dream of sexy swedes all night. mmmmm. so yeah... pretty great, eh? i hope the rest of you had a fab time as well. i want details of other picnics! how were the cloisters? as for the tape tree, thanks to all those who replied so promptly. i will now sort out the branch logistics and email y'all details soon! if there are any last-minute stragglers who want in, email me pronto! happy birthday sinister! and happy birthday MICHAEL GRANT and CALUMN! next weekend up-and-coming wonderband band DOT-TO-DOT (featuring several members of this here crew) make their big london debut at the buffalo bar so there may very well be more sini meet-ups action and REPORTING BACK. stay tuned... -your dahlin' oh yeah! i very nearly forgot!!! there are PHOTOS! here: http://photobucket.com/albums/b339/dahling007/sini/ not in any real order, and with no captions. maybe i'll add some. _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! 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