Sinister: The Gobi Twins, Sahara Cracknell, Mojave Williams

[Michael Jones]

Ooh, I've peaked with the subject heading.  And I pinched that.  Best
make this short.

As someone old enough to remember Emlyn 'Crazy Horse' Hughes
rampaging through the Swedish defence only to slam his drive against
an upright in an otherwise drab, goalless late 70s friendly,
Saturday's Euro2000 tedium was a case of déjà vu for me.  Except that
*this* time, the shining moment in an avalanche of jaw-slacking
misery came 2 hours *after* the match in the shape of two Australians
wielding acoustic guitars in a tiny record shop.  So, not really
comparable in any way.

Yes, The Go-Betweens were in town again - or at least Robert 'Ham'
Forster and Grant 'Beef' McLennan.  A terrific little set between the
'NZ Skate-Punk' and 'West Coast Spaz-Jazz' sections in the Rough
Trade shop in London's swinging W11, climaxing, almost unbelievably,
with "Lee Remick".  Trousers and I summoned up enough courage
afterwards to hassle Mr F; he and Stevie T hit it off almost
immediately with a shared fondness for Lovin' Spoonful lyrics, while
I stood around lemon-like until the Antipodean popster noticed my
TBWTAS T-shirt.  "'struth, mate - they're bonzer, no worries", he
said - or words to that effect.  Later still Trou's shameless Eric
Morecambe dancing almost swayed Robert F (who now has the demeanour
of a slightly hip college professor) into joining us for a drink. 
But not quite.  We applauded them as they swanned off pub-bound with
a phalanx of journoscum in tow, which I like to think made their day.
 The spontaneous ovation that is, not the boozing and schmoozing with
IPC hacks.

Chris McQuain had this to say:

> I know people slagged Velvet Goldmine (Haynes' long-awaited follow
up to
> [SAFE], a cruelly underrated glam-rock epic) because they didn't
understand
> what it was supposed to be (a lovely, gaudy-colorful, glittering,
bisexually
> erotic glam-rock fairly tale with the 1970s as the Emerald City and
the
> 1980s as a dark place ruled by those twin Wicked Witches, Reagan
and
> Thatcher), only what they simplistically wanted it to be (a Bowie
bio-pic,
> which it was NEVER intended to be).

Funny, I was rather expecting it to be a gaudy, glittery, erotic
fairy-tale and I still thought at least half of it was a hideous,
sagging mess.  I did like the bits with the kids running through the
streets to early Eno.  There's not enough of that kind of thing
anywhere, really.  I half-agree with you about [SAFE] (is it really
bracketed capitals ?)... the detached, Kubrickian business.  I guess
I'm a superficial kinda guy.

Back to it...

Mike.
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