Lazy Line Painter David wrote a question and I'm hoping that my hand will go up first!

Doesn't it ever rain in Austin? And does anyone know what's the deal >with Isobel on this tour? Is she ill?

Struan explained Isobel's absence by telling us that the tour schedule was hard on her, and she was resting up by skipping some dates. I was sorry not to get to see her. At first I wondered if Sarah was her, but she was smiling far too much, the cutie. B&S did get a moody cellist to replace Isobel though, who was very pretty in a tattered white dress and stylish blonde hair. She wandered off to sulk periodically, hee. Texas weather does whatever it pleases, but lately it's been busy getting hot. Enough rain, time for the flowers to bloom. It's Beltane today, kids, did you remember? Happy Beltane! I went camping with my Pagan Student Alliance friends (our official university organization, yes, we're registered and have elections and hold meetings and all that) to celebrate the season as it arrived. People from all across the state (and some even further away) gathered together on a woodsy piece of land owned by a pagan organization. Well, I came in the trunk because there was no room in the car. We were arriving a bit late to the campsite because I'd had to attend class. So I missed the crowning of the May King and Queen, as well as the Maypole. But I was laying there in the trunk, and it was like a spaceship with the taillights blinking, and then the trunk opened up and I was in the woods. The atmosphere was families, fires burning, workshops, green meditation groves, and lots of smiling. It was also clothing optional, so after three days some people had sunburn troubles, despite the copious amounts of sunscreen. If freckles are kisses, is sunburn like a big ole hickey? Too fierce! Now we all know where you've been. My ride to the B&S concert is a self-described "indie snob." He was very annoyed when a girl at the concert asked him about his Pedro the Lion shirt. She hadn't heard of them, the blasphemous heathen. He wore his black frames glasses specially to the show, the ones without a prescription because his eyesight is 20/20. One of my friends was camping with her family, so I went to meet her family. A handshakes just doesn't do for a pagan camp-out. As her bare breasted mother gave me a warm embrace, I thought about how people usually think of nudism as uncomfortably sexual. Women keeping their tits tucked away, flirtatiously popping out, or ashamed when they discover a button has accidentally come undone. Men walking as though they have a concealed weapon, hitching their clandestine pride as though it were a weighty theorem shifting in their jeans, or a subtle threat that might cause social humilation. Well, there's push-up bras and thongs, packing and binding. And then there's public showers. I was somewhat disappointed to see that nobody else had scars quite like mine, so I sudsed my face and hair first. By the time I got all the soap away from my eyes, everyone who'd wanted to have a look had politely finished it and merely wanted to borrow some of my shampoo. My ride couldn't believe that there was guy at the show wearing a baseball cap backwards on his head. "Baseball is an indie rock sport, at least. But BACKWARDS at a Belle and Sebastian show?!?" Football is not an indie rock sport, by the way. Golf is tolerable. My ride was undecided about whether or not Struan's soccer ball was appropriate. Pretty complicated to rule the school, ah scenesters. Speaking of football/soccer, when Mike Streets talks about "geezers," is he actually talk about old people, or is this Brit slang for "guys"? I kept myself covered up during the camp-out, until the last night. My friends crept back to our tents after the main ritual (which was Discordian and hilariously apt for a fertility festival). They were burnt to a crisp and thus needing rest. Because it was dark, my skin's marks weren't visible. In the woods, away from the city lights, the sky was so black you could see the stars and a huge halo around the moon. I changed into shorts and an undershirt. It was dawn when I finally left the fire dancers' camp, where they spun fire in the air and fought with flames, and one of them asked me for a kiss before I left. I was wondering he'd still have wanted that kiss if he'd seen my arms and legs in the clear honest light. I wonder why it was okay for those strangers in the shower to see me completely, but I wouldn't let my own friends see me in my shorts. Sometimes I think I am a born liar, but it's nice to meet people you'll never meet again. After the concert, I would have liked to have met the band, as charming and friendly and ordinary as they seemed to be. But my ride though we should follow the car with the Mogwai bumper sticker. To see what cool place they would be headed for. (Fredricksburg.) It's all good. DECEPTIVELY GOOD. ... You're nakey right now, aren't you? _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. 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 +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+