Sinister: As Real As It May Seem

[P F]

At the turn of our century - no, start again, at the
turn of the previous century, W.B. Yeats went to see A
Doll's House:

'"Art is art because it is not nature", I kept
repeating to myself, but how could I take the same
side with critic and washerwoman?'.

Imagine sitting next to him. You wouldn't be able to
make out much of the dialogue, with WBY mumbling about
art vs nature the whole time. I hope she slammed the
door good and hard.

A semi-wise man once advised me to keep walking past
open windows (I think that was how he phrased it). I
trust that the lad Gillanders is doing the same. Mind
you, the windows are not so high in Glasgow. Except
the ones from which the Care Bear regards her domain,
the city of the living, the city of the dead. The lad
G was talking recently about all the books he'd read,
and I can't say his taste was bad. Far from it. Let me
advise him not to go back to D.H. Lawrence. It's not
worth it. It may *sound* like a good idea, but it's
actually a very bad idea.

I wonder what Scotland is like for New Year's Eve. I
really do.

Youn talked a while ago about what a certain line in
'Judy and the Dream of Horses' meant ('Judt I don't
know you if you're gonna show me everything'). It was
ingenious stuff. My own reading is: he 'wrote' the
line spontaneously, happy enough to get something
rhythmic, while he chugged away oan his wee guitarr.
The Sense didn't come till later, when you did him the
service of putting it there.

I was cheered to see Edna Welthorpe back in the mists
of space, a while back, talking about the way that the
pinefox's endless repetitions are a mirror image of
Lloyd Cole's. I wonder whether anyone else has a view
on this line of Simon Reynolds': 'Demystification just
kinda took the mystery out of everything'. Is it a
joke, very poor writing, or - in between the two - a
very poor joke?

This reminds me of the story that Simon Reynolds has
been buying up old 80s music papers - just think about
that for a moment -

and of the Saturday night programme Forever 1989.
Actually it was Forever 1988 the first time I saw it,
whihc was, whisper it, even better. It reminded me of
how I've *always* liked Debbie Gibson. I must remember
to use that as a bargaining chip in my next
crockery-throwing pop argument with my editor.

Also featured:

Taylor Dayne, 'Give It To My Heart' (unforgettable); 

Climie Fisher, '...' (I've forgotten already);

Jane Wiedlin, 'Rush Hour' (look, here's another
bargaining fish. I've *always* loved that record, ever
since going to watch Paul Gascoigne lose a boot on his
home league debut and hearing it on the tannoy);

T Vamp, 'I Want Your Love' (I have always wanted to
see more than 5 seconds of that video);

Primitives, 'Crash' (I think we've said all there is
to say about this record, Elton);

Morrissey, 'Suedehead' for goodness' sake.

I have a feeling that I know the narrator of the
programme. 'Know' is an exaggeration.

Mr Moore sometimes comes on and talks about how good
new bands are. In his absence let me report back that
I, like most folk round here, saw the Red & White
Stripes on TV the other day. They looked good. The
concept - yes, that was good. But I can't quite
stretch to saying they *sounded* good.

I think Peter Miller has been reading the archives.

Are you glad?


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