Sinister: Will this do?

[Nick Dastoor/BSHO/GB]

David, an idea for a B&S competition:  How about "Guess the future of Belle and 
Sebastian" in a kind of clairvoyant 'rock biog' way?  Potted histories only of 
course.

Sarah wrote:
>And will someone tell em why my messages keep coming through with shite
>like =20 on them al the time? Cos they are doing my tree. I never get
>any numbers right! 

Hmmm.. I think pound signs are the main stumbling block. I expect there's some 
clever answer to do with ASCII conversion protocols or something. Let's have a 
go: œœœœœœ

>Are they like censorship? Like '=46uck'?????

No, but a friend who works at a revolting financial institution has all her 
e-mail vetted in a wonderfully draconian way.  If you send her a message with a 
rude word in it gets bounced back at you.  Astonishingly, the list of banned 
words extends to 'bottom', which can obviously be used in really quite 
legitimate senses.  Reminds me of the nanny web software that banned access to 
a site about the town Scunthorpe (work it out).

Megan wrote:
>also, _don't_look_back, the
>documentary about bob dylan is showing at the film forum in new york.  is
>it worth seeing for someone who isn't terribly interested in him as a
>singer?

Well I saw it on telly a while before buying any of his records and enjoyed 
it.  Particularly memorable was the scene in which  he was very rude to a bunch 
of earnest young fans that was mobbing him and asking why why why had he sold 
out to the evils of amplified guitars.  What musical direction could Belle & 
Sebastian take that would engender such hostilty?  I realise that for some of 
you they got in early with "Electronic Rennaisance" but bearing in mind that 
they haven't repeated that particular trick...  Or all we all eclectic now?

That dubiously titled fellow wrote:
>I'm talking of Devine & Statton, one of the first names that came to my
>mind after listening to BandS.
>Is it me, or they (and their former band Young Marble Giants) were/are
>inspirational for many bands?

<sigh> Devine and Statton's "Under the Weather" is a dream.  A nasty dream, 
mind you, unpleasant enough for me not to be able to put in on any tape I ever 
made for my girlfriend, in case she took it personally.  A perennial problem 
that.  Talking of dreams, I had my B&S dream the other night.  Well, to be 
precise it was a rather embarrassing B&S mailing list dream.  In it, I somehow 
ended up offering to let Paedophile Paul (poor boy's gone a bit quiet since the 
great baby picture scandal shit hit the fan) stay at my house for a while.  It 
turned out he was a hideous one-legged dwarf (I kid you not) but I tried to 
disguise my shock and take him out on the town, go shopping and stuff.  It 
reminded me of having to do the same with my french exchange partner many moons 
ago.  Not that he was a one-legged dwarf or anything.  But he did have dandruff.

Tag wrote:
>we should be using all
>this we get from these records, making everyone laugh (like Peter and
>Susannah), writing witty little anecdotes about their lives (like
>Genevieve), or making films, getting together, forming bands, opening
>clubs, launching plans for an international pop underground magazine.
>Otherwise the rest of the world has every right to call us a bunch of
>fucking losers.

I'll defend their right to do so till my dying day.  But yeah - anyone want 
make a film or form a band with me?  Or does it not work like that?  How 
perfect the story is of Belle & Sebastian all meeting that cafe one night?  
Ranks up there with Johnny Marr pressing his chocolatey nose up to that odd kid 
from Stretford's window, or that fateful church bazaar (hey!) encounter between 
Lennon & McCartney.  I dream of such things.  At our school the only people who 
formed bands were rubbish and into Eric Clapton.  By university it was even 
worse - the people with guitars were into things like Fretblanket.  Never 
stumbled across any kindred spirits with musical pretensions.  Perhaps I should 
hang out at more church functions.  Anyway, forming a band at university is 
never a good move, is it?  Can anyone think of a good exception?

As for making films, well I _have_ already acted in one (show off alert!) and a 
TV series. It's always good having one claim to fame, although the thought of 
peaking at the age of 13 is a little depressing. Look me up in the IMDB (my 
surname's only had one 'o' in it then).  But yes, actually properly making 
films would be a whole different thing.  Which reminds me, did Susannah ever 
develop her fantastic attempts to mock up all the B&S covers with a self-timer 
camera?

Phew,
Nick
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