Sinister: avert your eyes children, he may take on other forms ....

[Lawrence Mikkelsen]

OK, brace yourself ... this is going to be a long one.

**STUFF ABOUT WEDDINGS**
Well, in case anyone is interested, I've just returned home from my
honeymoon, having been married a few weeks ago here in Auckland. Anyone
interested in the days proceeding read on .. Feel free to skip to the next
post, or at least the stuff at the end of this post which is about pop, and
not about me getting married.

OK.

Well, yeah, it all went well. I'd been freaking out, mainly because the
whole day turned out to be quite a big event, which is not what I
wanted/expected. My idea wedding would have had about 50 people - close
friends, family etc., whereas we ended up having close on 200. Anyway,
Vanessa and I had both been pretty stressed out . sniping at each other for
the last few months etc. (Shawn .. You remember, right?) So when the day
came along it all went rather smoothly. The service was at a Catholic
Church, with an instrumental version of "You Still Believe In Me" from the
'Pet Sounds' box set, courtesy of Sinister listee Scott Mannion. I can't
really remember much of the service, suffice to say I walked out of the
church (to an instrumental version of "Wouldn't it be Nice") a married man.
My best man, who was a bit of a pain in the arse the few days before the
wedding, turned out to be really great, and he, Vanessa, her bridesmaid and
I had a lot of fun being photographed at various hip locations around
Auckland for the next few hours. (I'll be putting some photos up for anyone
interested . URL coming soon.)

The best thing about the day, though, was two of my best friends secretly
arriving from the UK without telling me. Andrew,, who was originally going
to be my best man, but then couldn't make it, turned up on Friday morning
wrapped in a blanket. Which made me so happy and then. At the wedding
service I spotted another fried, Dave, in the audience. Dave (also an ex-pay
NZer) also said he couldn't make it, and then decided to come home at the
last moment. Which, again, was amazing, and made the day that much sweeter
for me.

The reception was nice . good food, and I managed to make my speech without
either freaking out, bursting into tears etc. The aformentiond Scott Mannion
provided kick-ass DJing, with an eclectic mix of Phil Spector pop, Blondie,
B&S, The Modern Lovers, 60's pop and Motown/Northern Soul. It was all great
until Vanessa's mother hijacked the decks towards the end of the night and
made him play Croatian dance music. (sigh)

So that's it really.

After a days layover here in Auckland Vanessa and I flew to Hawaii, for five
nights in Waikiki and a week on Kauai. It is at this point that I must
APPOLOGISE TO AMERICANS. I used to think you were a little dull when you
came to New Zealand. Anyway, I spent most of my time on Kauai feeling a
little retarded, and very embarrassed. Simple things like filling the car up
with petrol, driving on the other side of the road etc. were just different
enough to be a little confusing, and I felt like some dumb hick, or some
savage who just crawled out of the jungle. I'm very sorry. Still, it was
great. We hired a car, and I careered madly around the island on the "wrong
side of the road", saw waterfalls, drove through a small river, ate good
seafood etc. etc. Arrived back a couple of days ago, and have just been
catching up with family, unpacking my stuff etc.

Anyway, that's probably enough about all that wedding stuff.

**STUFF ABOUT POP MUSIC**

**B&S**
When I arrived back there was a copy of the new B&S single in my mailbox. It
's brilliant . the last two singles have just sounded so amazing. "I Love My
Car" would be my (current) favourite B&S song of all time. The horn section
is genius. And the artwork ... Sarah Martin, if I weren't a married man I'd
be sending you flowers everyday.
Does anyone know anything about the "Storytelling" soundtrack. Reading that
interview with Stuart, he sounded a little pissed off about the whole thing.
Is the s/t album still coming out? It sounds like the band were working on
the LP long after the film was finished. Does this mean with will morph into
a new LP proper? Oh please let it ...

**CAMERA OBSCURA**
Also came home to their debut album. It's excellent .. Highly recommended to
B&S fans, especially the brilliant "Eighties Fan" produced by Stuart
Murdoch.

**SODASTREAM**
How come no one has ever told me about them? I discovered them about a month
ago and have become obsessed. Any other fans? Their new album " A Different
Lifetime" is a work of genius, if only for the song "Scottish Pop" which
namechecks both Stuart Murdoch and Edwyn Collins. They remind me of Orange
Juice in a way, along with a bit of Hefner and Cinerama and "His'n'Hers" era
Pulp thrown into the mix.
Anyway, this has gone on far too long, and isn't quite as coherent as I
could have hoped. Still, hope all is well in Sinister-land. Will try to post
sometime more interesting, and shorted, soon.

Lawrence

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