Sinister: you never buy the same record twice

[Jan Imgrund]

Hi
I'm home on a Friday night.. what a sinister thing to do, I thought. I might
just as well post to the list again, it must be about time, since the last
was about 6 months ago. It's always good to keep a certain rhythm. But what
do I have to say? Oh, that should not be a big problem. There's always
something, really, if you only look hard enough. I always could find
something.
Isn't it strange to see your own name on a computer screen, written by
someone else? It makes me feel like I'm not in control of myself; someone
else who has never seen you knows your name and types it out on a carolinian
keyboard, and a few hours later you read and stumble over something
familiar: you say to yourself "hey, that's me!" But is it really me? At the
time of writing, it was just the name of a guy who had not updated the
literary list in a long time (I will do so, Laura Lleweth (see!), as soon as
I've finished this, taken a wodka and smoked another cigar. And then I'll do
it, if I still can.) and it's also me, in some strange way.
I think that's what shyness is all about: you don't want to lose your name.
Once I typed my name into a search-engine just to see what happens. I found
a woman who had the same name as me - she was living in New York and she was
some kind of musician, I believe. Jan Imgrund, musician in NY. Carrying my
name around! How dare she! I felt somewhat betrayed, I must say. I always
considered my name as my own property. I should have sent her a mail - that
would have been a nice shock, getting a mail from yourself. We might have
met, fallen in love (to love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance,
as Oscar Wilde said) and married. Then we would have led a funny life of
confusing other people. I could have learned to play an instrument and we
could have taken turns in playing concerts - no one would know who comes on
stage when they announce "Please welcome Jan Imgrund!".
But I did send an email to her, and the page where she was mentioned has
gone a while ago already. We'll never know.
Thinking about it, I'm not so anymore sure who's meant when my name is
mentioned on the list. Maybe they're referring to a female fan in New York
City, and not to, erm, me.
That reminds me of another story (I told you, I'm unstoppable once I've
started): my girlfriend and I once brought our old clothes to a thrifteria
or whatever you brits call it, and the guy who took care of our rags greeted
my girlfriend with her first name ("oh, he may have been lucky, Carolin is
not such a rare name"), *and* last name ("????!!!!! Is there something going
on between this slightly dim-witted oriental thriftmaster and my girlfriend
I should know of??!). But then I was reassured. He knew my name as well.
There was no secret affair; the guy was just clairvoyant. This guy should
play lotto and get rid of his shitty job instead of scaring the shit out of
unsuscepting hipsters.
(I can hear you, sceptics, but believe me, I'm not the kind of person who
has his name printed on all his belongings, I did not even take my purse
out, and my name is not written across my forehead for all I know.)

Sorry Laura, I've already started drinking the wodka. Could you correct the
spelling on the new litlist??

Surprisingly little B&S content, don't you think? Hmmm. I have not listened
to their records all that much at the moment. it might have to do with the
fact that I am not currently in possession of IYFS, my favourite by a long
shot, since I gave my copy to a romanian girl (who loved it to bits! Another
convert!) And somehow I can't bring myself to buy the same record twice,
even if it's one of my very very favourites. There's always so much new
stuff to buy!
Incidentally, my first guided by voices song (the official ironman rally
song) was the best thing that came to my ears in a long time. Could someone
who knows about such things tell me what record's best to buy? I heard good
things about mag earwhig. It's such a great name, too.

See you in may 2001 then,
Jan

PS: Everybody should own "stranded" by roxy music. Not only because of the
cover.
PPS: And the sophware slump by grandaddy. not only because of the name.

--
Tindersticks page: http://www.tindersticks.net
'Lifestyle music for those maybe lacking in life,
but never ever in style'
--

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
    +---+  Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list  +---+
    To send to the list mail sinister at missprint.org. To unsubscribe
    send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
    majordomo at missprint.org.  WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister
 +-+  "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students"  +-+
 +-+  "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list"  +-+
 +-+       "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper        +-+
 +-+   "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000   +-+
 +-+       "peculiarly deranged fanbase" "frighteningly named       +-+
 +-+           Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000           +-+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+