Sinister: Well, *deep breath*, just out of the nursery...

[Alan Burns]

...when I signed on to Sinister, I was initially scornful of the strict 
rules, I have to shamefully admit. you mean I've got to wait a month to post 
a message?? mmmmph. but now it's all clear...the time spent reading all your 
messages was just right to get to know what goes on, so I don't dive 
straight in and look like an arse. so thanks honey! :)

this looks like a really nice mail list already, with lots of nice people 
(and two very nice people, but I didn't join just to stalk them...honest! ;) 
looks nicer than the other mailing list I've been on too; that particular 
one's completely unregulated too, so it daily consists of several 
middle-aged Vietnam veterans reminiscing about how everything used to sound 
better on 8-track cartridge, and the only person near my own age is a rather 
excitable Belgian lad. they're all lovely people though, and share a common 
worship of my favourite artist of all time (who's just released a lovely new 
album), so they're like family.

why then join Sinister? well, as everyone knows, the word sinister is 
derived from the latin "sinistra", which means "left handed". like me.

okay, now for the not-made-up reason.

like any normal human being, I like discovering people like me, and chatting 
to them. for someone like me, and I'm sure everyone else here, that's quite 
hard to do, which is where the wonders of technology come in. if you're 
enough of a chancer to be able to blag your way into higher education ("it's 
full time in McDonalds when I graduate....full time in McDonalds when I 
graduate...."), you quickly discover that one of the greatest benefits is 
free internet access, to get straight to the places where like-minded souls 
will hide away.

I'd currently describe myself as a "Belle & Sebastian prodigal son". as a 
17-year old insomniac, there once was a night when I chanced upon a song on 
Radio 1 which made me jump up and proclaim "Phil Spector's gone back into 
production!" I genuinely believed this until, a month later, it was finally 
released and I found out the song had been recorded by some bloke called 
Tony Doogan. in the song's lyrics, especially the mystical incantation of 
having a boy/girl tonight on the last bus out of town, I immediately felt a 
lot less lonely than I had for a long time. which was the effect every other 
B&S release had on me after that. Stuart's, and then eventually 
Isobel's/Stuart's lyrics reflected the state my life was in so closely I 
could swear I saw them taking notes over my shoulder when I passed a mirror.

there's a gear-change in your lifestyle when you finally leave home which is 
so profound you'll never quite feel anything as earth-shaking again. for me, 
living in Liverpool for a year and then in Edinburgh for the past year 
(anyone applying to Liverpool University might want to go over their 
course-structures with a microscope and a fine toothcomb, but enough 
axe-wielding bitterness) I suddenly had something called a "social life", 
which I'd never had before (and discovered it costs you your dignity, 
virginity, and around £30 a night in a student union), and another novelty 
called "a decent circle of friends". in this new life, I was suddenly left 
with 3 albums, 4 e.p.s and a naughty wee tape called "Wee Graeme the B&S 
Trainspotter's Compilation of The Black Sessions & some BBC Stuff" which I 
couldn't relate to at all. in fact, listening to them at all just reminded 
me over and over of the hell I'd emerged from back home, as all the songs 
were totally engrained into me as relating to these times.

and so one of the most beautiful, small-and-perfectly-formed catalogues in 
popular music gathered dust (and lots of it) at the back of my cupboard for 
about a year or so, until two lovely (if slightly sinister) people brought 
the music of Belle & Sebastian back to my attention. I tried to rediscover 
it all, which was a long and arduous journey to complete erase all past 
memories of what the songs used to mean to me.

thankfully, it's starting to work. and I'd be missing out on a lot of fine 
music if I were to neglect them anymore.

so that's my "Belle & Sebastian prodigal son" story.

what next?
erm, I'm a "student" of Communication & Media at Napier University, in 
Edinburgh, which is crap, and I work in a supermarket called Somerfield on 
Dalry Road, Dalry, which isn't crap because I'd much rather have a job 
anyway than a degree. and if I stay here instead of working back home I can 
have a mighty fine life in general. except that Edinburgh's been pretty much 
underwater for the last three weeks, and I've had a cold every day.
I used to be in a band, or rather an acousticky duo, which has just split up 
due to the pressures of work my partner in crime is currently experiencing, 
and differing opinions of the longview of what we wanted to do have pretty 
much split us up anyway. my colleague claimed that he'd only sign to a 
record label who gave him complete creative freedom, and where he didn't 
have to have his picture in the album sleeve anywhere, and he claimed that 
such a label didn't exist, despite my best efforts at Jeepster-conversion. I 
even raised the point that I still don't really know what Stuart Murdoch 
looks like, although I do know what Isobel looks like *sigh...* having seen 
The Gentle Waves in Glasgow a year ago. I'm told that Stuart was playing as 
part of the band that night, but I didn't know at the time, though.

and I promised myself that I wouldn't mention a single other band name in my 
first post, as I gather one of the (I suppose pretty sensible) rules of the 
list is not to give huge big lists of every band you like. suffice to say, I 
have the kind of CD collection that looks like it was compiled by about 
seven or eight different people, all of whom would completely hate each 
other if they all met for a day. but that sort of nicely reflects the kind 
of person I am anyway. there isn't really much I don't like musically, I 
suppose.

feel I have to mention one of my favourite bands, though, who I've gathered 
from messages I read just after joining that they didn't go down to well at 
All Tomorrow's Parties: the wonder that is Sonic Youth. it's such a shame 
they obviously had a bad night there, and I hope it doesn't colour too many 
people's opinions of them permanantly. from all the live bootlegs I've 
heard, I'll admit Sonic Youth are no stranger to a duff gig, especially in 
festivals of any sort for some reason: maybe they're insecure about not just 
playing for fans: but on nights when they're really focused, there's nothing 
on earth like them. Glasgow Barrowlands, February 1996 was the greatest gig 
of my life for that very reason.

sorry, just felt they needed some justification!!

really have to go now, which I'll admit is due to wanting to run home like 
an absolute sad gimp to get in in time for Neighbours, but there it is.
been nice to meet you all,

oh, and I have exactly five and a quarter days left now of being a teenager. 
anyone suggest how I could use them to the full??

bye,

Alan.
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