Hello, Sinister! "This Isn't Just A Modern Rock Song" I was idling away my Sunday afternoon, as you do, scanning briefly through my old, almost-dead email account. It's almost-dead because it's flooded with spam in Japanese, advertising, well, I don't know because it's all Japanese. Scattered through it, though, there are occasional pearls, like a sixpence in the Christmas pudding. Like the occasional Sinister email! Gayle E Anderson posted back in October. Now there's a name that brings back memories, of picnics in Kelvingrove Park and Princes Street Gardens, and gigs at the Barrowlands and the QMU. It's bizarre to think that I've been on this list over nine years now. "Not everybody's cup of tea, she would admit to me" And I'm a very different person to who I was back then, in some ways. I'm not the person I wanted to be, but maybe I'm the person I should have tried doing. I mean, being. I'm sure I've told you all this before at various points. Time for an ink polaroid break. An anonymous-looking hotel room, fairly tidy, but with an unmade bed. Two people are in it: a man, sitting on the edge of the bed; and a woman kneeling between his legs, looking up at him. He has one hand on her shoulder, and the other is holding a large, heavy-looking camera to his eye, pointing down at her. Outside the window, you can see the University spire, not too far away. "Seeing other people" I don't visit Glasgow very often nowadays. I was up in October, and it was my first visit for years. Visting an online friend, we retrod all the streets, and it felt strange to be back there after so long. I was hoping to bump into Stevie Jackson on the underground, or Sarah in Nice'n'Sleazy's. I didn't even make it to Nice'n'Sleazy's, even, being distracted by the secret fetish club down the road. Incidentally, I only recently found out that Stevie was formerly in a band called The Moondials. Now there's a damn good name for a band, especially if you could persuade your lead singer to change his/her name to Minty Cane. Anyone who has the faintest idea what I'm talking about, please send in a postcard to the usual address. End of part two. This ink polaroid is a lot more recent. It's a moonlit, deserted beach at midnight. There are two people, pale-faced, dark-clothed, looking at each other. Not the same people as before - well, the girl isn't, at least. She has her arms behind her back, as if her wrists have been tied or chained together somehow, and a dreamy look on her face. "Now we're photogenic we don't stand a chance" I do come across people who have heard of B&S occasionally, but not often. A new phone arrived the other week, with a truly dire selection of ringtones. So, I uploaded "Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie" onto it straight away, as soon as I'd worked out how. Now I'm just waiting for someone to phone me. And then someone to overhear it ringing, in the hope that they'll say "What's that ringtone?" "Oh, it's this really good Scottish band who have been around ten years or so now." It's ten years this month since I first bought a B&S CD. How times have changed. It isn't ten years yet since I lost my virginity. I didn't even own a PC, never mind know what an MP3 was. I'd heard of the internet, but never seen it. Time to put If You're Feeling Sinister on the stereo, and remember just how different ten years ago was. xx FP www.symbolicforest.com/blog +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+