Sinister: the 'duke' speaks

[duke of harringay]

John Jackson wrote:

> No I was just insinuating that the 'duke' just says things like
> Matt Haynes used to in his fanzines. Years ago.

and before Matt Haynes?  do you want to go back further?  we could talk
about Paul Morley, or Dave McCullogh... Nik Cohn... Or we could say
Kevin Pearce even.. All people who have written words and expressed
ideas about Pop that i have taken to heart and which have informed my
life to some extent.  same as the musics/lyrics of vic godard, lawrence,
belle & sebastian, rupert parkes... a truckload of others.  I've been
writing in the way i have, with obvious developments, for years, since i
first started writing fanzines (initially for just my friends) when i
was about 14, which was before i ever saw a copy of AYSTGH,
incidentally.  Tim for one has seen the stuff i've written since that
time, but it's not relevent really, because i don't care what you think,
just what i know.  I loved what Matt used to write and i loved the way
he wrote it, same as with the others i mentioned.  If you think that
saying those things in that way is somehow restricted to a moment in
time then i think that's very sad.  It's got nothing to do with musical
styles, or moments in time, but is to do with intenet and passion and
style.  I have tried to express, through the years, that same passion
and hope which i have found in numerous areas.  I wrote it all 'about'
McCarthy in 1988, i wrote it all 'about' Jungle in 1995 and i wrote it
all 'about' belle & sebastian in 1997. To suggest that i'm just copying
what Matt Haynes wrote, either in content or style is to miss the point
both of what i'm writtng and what Matt has written.

> That's all. I've heard
> it all before. And I wish he'd stop going on about the Jasmine Minks.
> Really.

you've heard it all before, yeah i've fucking heard it all before, but
that doesn't make it less relevent, it just means that some people
aren't content to leave emotional responses, and ideals about right and
wrong, good and bad, behind in the chase after some nebulous idea of
fashionable sound.  There are younger generations who HAVE NOT HEARD IT
all.  Generations who, for better or for worse, are in a situation where
their culture is fragmented to the point of a meaningless homogenized
glut, and who may not realise that, in effect, it is THEY who have some
potential in them to change things for the better, whatever that might
be in their eyes.  I keep thinking about some lines in Absolute
Beginners...

okay, i'll shut up about the Jasmine Minks... maybe.  I think Sarah was
glad that i mentioned them, i know i'm glad she bothered to show the
interest to say, 'can i hear them please'.  She CARED enough to explore,
to learn about other things that the mainstream (and mainstream
'alternative') media will not tell her about.  It's all just jumping off
points... what you do with it, how you take it after that is up to you.

> My favourite shalala flexi was the Razorcuts/Talulah Gosh one.
> Sad Kaleidoscope on her mind..or something..

the one with The Visitors on.  'pinteresque' i think is the word. :-)

keep the faith,
the duke

--
Tangents On-Line http://www.virtual-pc.com/tangent/
PO Box 102, Exeter, EX2 4YL, UK
tangent at lineone.net

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
.     This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list.
.        To send to the list please mail "sinister at majordomo.net".
.  For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see
.             http://www.majordomo.net/sinister
. For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister at majordomo.net
.             Listen, this is pish, I think I'll leave
-----------------------------------------------------------------------