Sinister: An overprivileged whiteboy writes

[Mark Casarotto]

Youn Jong Noh wrote:

Is Mr. Dastoor of the Guardian wishing a sorry end to his fellow
journalists, fanzine & e-zine editors here?

Erm, Mr Dastoor, with your posh email address - remind us what you do at The
Guardian? :P

Regarding Emma and Miki from Lush and their disappointing voices - I can
officially confirm that Isobel Campbell sounds like Louis Armstrong seeking
to cure a heavy cold with an 80-fags-a-day regime - her speaking voice
loosens bowels from 20 paces. And Leonard Cohen sounds like Chris Eubank.
Honest.

As I'm sure I've waffled before, I've seen Stereolab 15 times now but I
don't have all that much desire to see them anymore as they are continually
heading away from the things that made me borderline obsessive in them 4 or
5 years ago. i.e. the first album. And the second one, for that matter.
However, I shall definitely be playing some 'lab at (ahem) A Night of
Tigermilking, Upstairs at the Garage (Highbury and Islington tube - please
someone tell me if that's wrong), Friday 11th June 1999 - all your fave B&S
hits and practically every band you've heard praised on this very list,
mainly thanks to Kevan Cooke's second-to-none record collection. I'm also
plotting something rather special, but I don't know if it's going to come
off yet, so shhhh....

Moving on, I always thought the Greek system meant up-the-bum sex. How
little I know...

I know loads of people are going to tell me how ridiculous this is,
but...when I was younger (until my early teens, probably) my idea of an
idyll was to live in a leafy American suburb with wide roads, driveways, big
detached houses with little verandahs at the front, cute girls with fringes
living next door - imagine Boy meets World, or wee Tom Hanks' neighbourhood
in Big. I ought to point out that I live in something which I imagine is
roughly its equivalent in England, so it's not exactly adventurous, or even
longing for a better life.

I'm not sure I can explain it, either - it just seemed so comfortable yet
exciting, full of possibilities - probably because all the things that the
American kids explored looked so much fun and expressed a more exciting
culture and I just wanted to be a part of it. South London seemed so banal,
though I betcha it's not half as banal as some of my little fantasies.

The older I've got, the more sinister (small s) the whole notion of happy
suburban family life has become. And the more I've heard stories of
unhappiness, abuse, bigotry and all the things which were blissfully absent
from my overprivileged 9-year-old life, the more I find myself wondering how
I could have perceived this as nirvana. Even if discovering Calvin and
Hobbes (there is nowhere near enough Calvin & Hobbes discussion on this
list, though some may disagree) made me remember why it had seemed more
attractive, it still strikes me as weird how this could have been such a
dream for me.

Well, the above 3 paras are very much self-indulgent waffling. I do
apologise - but it was kind of nice to just speak like that. Pompous arse
that I am :)

I had the opposite school experience to Ailsa - in my (overachieving private
boys') school, I got on fine with the cool set, the hard lads, the geeks and
the simply dull. My principle friends were the indiekids, for want of a
better definition - we all fancied ourselves as being that little bit more
Bohemian and intellectual than the others, but not in too offensive a way -
we were happy chatting about Ride behind out fringes and wandering off to
listen to the Dead Kennedys and eat pot noodles and kit-kats at someone's
nearby flat during lunch break. I even had friends in the year below me,
which was pretty much unheard of, one of whom is still my best friend seven
years later (the only downside was that it led to aspersions being cast on
my sexuality, something which I sort of played up to (some may say I still
do :))). Hmmm - middle class boy with mild superiority complex has
untroubled childhood - not exactly thrilling, sorry :)

I am *so* sorry for the length of what is possibly the most pointless post
ever on sinister. Slapped wrists all round.
Love Mark xxx

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