* Friday 27/11/98 14:30 Southampton Good luck card from work colleagues and phone call from Alec at Nairns reminding me not to compromise their market positioning strategy. No idea what he is talking about, but the cheque for two hundred pounds arrived last week so I just agree with him. Finish work early and head home for final preparations. * Friday 27/11/98 17:00 Basingstoke Check all figures, oil moving parts, polish Stuart's silver trousers, and practice set pieces. * Saturday 28/11/98 08:00 Earls Court Arrive at the venue, meet controversial 1994 runner-up Sabrina in reception. The rules have been changed since, to avoid a repeat of that rather tawdry performance. * Saturday 28/11/98 08:15 Earls Court Find my table "Belle and Sebastian sponsored by Nairns Oakcakes" and start to unpack. Fresh batteries and a last polish for Stuart's trousers. Head to the restaurant for some breakfast and chat with Adam and the Ants as other competitors arrive. * Saturday 28/11/98 10:00 Earls Court Opening match against The Equals featuring Eddy Grant. Taken by surprise as they launch straight in with Baby Come Back, but after withstanding the body blow I hit back hard with Lazy Line Painter Jane, and a gentle prod with Simple Things is enough for an early victory. * Saturday 28/11/98 11:15 Earls Court Take on the might of Metallica in the second round. They had demolished Robson and Jerome in the first round leaving the oldest competitor in tears, poor Mrs Bootle. A bit of research had suggested that Lars Ulrich would be their weak spot, and the research paid off as Stuart D confounded the pretty boy skin basher with some carefully crafted loops. Before they had had a chance to recover Le Pastie exposed the tedium of their riffery, and an achingly beautiful State I Am In left them gibbering at Stuart's feet. * Saturday 28/11/98 12:30 Earls Court Lunch with Alec from Nairns who is very pleased with Belle and Sebastian's performance so far. Meet his corporate guests who include a purchasing executive from Marks and Spencers called Brian. Brian is pleased that Metallica were felled by a song that mentioned his store. Promise another of Alec's guests (from Littlewoods) that I will use Pocketbook Angel against The Undertones in the next round. * Saturday 28/11/98 14:00 Earls Court After a tactical and considered opening a ferocious battle ensues, one of the hardest fought games that I can remember. The Undertones put up a really tough fight and look capable of going all the way to the final, but the Belle and Sebastian set pieces are paying off. Sarah loses a limb during Teenage Kicks, and Feargal Sharky is left bloodied and visibly shaken by The Boy With the Arab Strap. * Saturday 28/11/98 14:45 Earls Court At the end of time the game is still undecided, so Stuart and Feargal go head to head in the decider. Head to head tie breaks weren't part of my pre-match training schedule, but luckily Feargal is still shaken, and can only muster a cringing version of A Good Heart. It looks as though Stuart is going to walk it. * Saturday 28/11/98 14:48 Earls Court Stuart moves in for the kill and starts to sing "There's too many broken hearts in the world, There's too many dreams can be broken in two" Arrrgh! I'm gonna get you Evans! * Saturday 28/11/98 15:00 Earls Court Judges announce disqualification of the Belle and Sebastian team, and entry to the international Pop Subutteo competition in NYC is also in doubt. Meanwhile Steps defeat last year's winners The Who in the final of the competition. * Sunday 29/11/98 11:20 Basingstoke Phone call from Alec, he is surprisingly understanding about the whole thing, apparently the scandal has made the headlines in the Sunday People with Nairns name all over the front page. Alec says that any publicity is good publicity when it's on the front page of the national papers. * Sunday 29/11/98 12:15 Basingstoke Phone call from the Pop Subutteo international governing body confirming that I have been barred from the NYC competition. The plane tickets are already paid for and it's too late to get a refund, so I will now be looking for something to do in NYC between the 12th and the 15th of December. *********************************** chickclick.com girl sites that don't fake it. http://www.chickclick.com http://www.chickmail.com *********************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+