Sinister: the hour is gone, but the seconds linger...

[Ernie Sanchez]

Hello you little charmers!

This is my first post on Sinister, although I’ve been out of the nursery for 
a few months and had an overdose of Chu and Llew, which can be a fatal 
combination if you’re right out of the nursery at a young age.  Took some 
time to recover.  However, I survived and am now in posting mode.  However 
I’m not very good with words. And if anyone remembers the pictures from the 
LA Sinister picnic in June,  my looks don’t make me someone that can be 
fancied,  so I doubt that the Sinister list crush mummy will be contacting 
me anytime soon.  Perhaps I’ll have to go back to lurkerdom after this post.

Here’s my introduction: male, 20, Los Angeles.  Well, I actually live about 
30-40 minutes north of L.A.  I seem to share musical tastes with most people 
on the list here, and was extremely excited to hear my beloved Lift to 
Experience and Pernice Brothers get mentions in previous posts.  My list of 
favorites is too long to mention (just ask Rachel Cornflake!) but I suppose 
I’d be open to make anybody a mix tape or cd.  I just made her a mix, and 
she told me that it was brilliant.

Well,  I guess that last statement was to hopefully arouse some interest 
with the Wills and Rachels of this list to recruit me as an honorary member 
of their team to contribute to the mix competition.  Will Salt, if you 
haven’t defected to the Rachels and become porridge yet, I’d like to join 
your team.  I know your real last name is Salt, but perhaps I can be Will 
Pepper?  Hopefully this name hasn’t been taken, as I subscribe to the digest 
version so I’m not always up to date on these things.

Alright, the main purpose of this post: I wanted to give my Belle and 
Sebastian live show reviews!  I know that the concerts were slightly over a 
month ago, and they are slowly fading away from my immediate memory, but I 
don’t recall having read any detailed reviews of any shows with the 
exception of the wonderful LA shows.  They are still definitely something I 
won't forget in the near future (hence the title of this email)I went to 
both LA shows, but as other people have already shared their experiences 
(with words far better than what mine would have been), I figured that I’d 
talk about the San Francisco shows.   Although I should mention that I’m the 
Ernie that Rachel Cornflake spoke about in her concerts post.   After 
meeting up with her after the show (I was all by my lonesome during the 
actual concert) we got the chance to meet a few members of the band.  I 
didn’t know what to ask them, but I managed to get Stevie and Stuart to sign 
my ticket and give me a hug.  Strange, but by Stuart’s slight frame, I would 
have thought that he would have a better hugging technique.  Yet I found 
Stevie to put more love into his hug, and his arm motion was smoother, so I 
would say that Stevie is my preferred hugger of the two.  Didn’t know what 
else to say to Stuart, but I stuck around for a short while and was far too 
happy when I got home.

After that, it was on to the San Francisco shows!  The drive up there was 
nice, but I couldn’t leave until Saturday at noon, so I wasn’t able to 
attend the meetup.  However the actual shows themselves more than made up 
for this!  The Saturday show started with everyone on stage except for Mr. 
Murdoch.  Sarah and Isobel started talking, little did I know (although I 
should’ve had the clue, as the original starts this way) that they were 
going to do “Leader of the Pack” which was made famous by the Shangri-Las!  
Stuart’s entrance was timed to coincide with the first motorcycle vroom in 
the song.  He came out on a motorcycle, in his little white t-shirt and 
tight pants, but he had on a pair of black sunglasses, choker and hat!  His 
attempt to look “tough” was a good one, and this was hilarious!  They 
proceeded to play an amazing set, probably my favorite of the 4 shows I 
attended.  Here’s the setlist I came up with from the recording I made:
1. leader of the pack (Shangri-Las)
2. le pastie de la bourgeoisie
3. there’s too much love
4. the magic of a kind word
5. i fought in a war
6. my wandering days are over
7. jonathan david
8. slow graffiti
9. the model
10. the boy with the thorn in his side (Smiths)
11. simple things
12. the boy with the arab strap
13. the fox in the snow
14. family tree
15. the state that i am in
16. dirty dream #2 (with Rachel Cornflake on spoken word vocals!)
17. the wrong girl (first couple lines sung in the style of Johnny Cash, but 
then Stevie stopped and the regular version was played)
18. woman’s realm
19. legal man
20. everyday people (Sly & the family stone)

The whole performance was wonderful, definitely my favorite show of the 4.  
Of course the Smiths cover was great too!  Stevie asked for requests, and I 
heard a few Smiths requests.  I was going to yell something out, as I still 
have a dream of seeing them perform a Left Banke song, some of the covers 
that they did at the Nice N’ Sleazy show earlier this year (Rhinestone 
Cowboy, Pretty Vacant) or “A Day in the Life” by the Beatles (Stu does the 
Lennon bit, Stevie the McCartney bit, Beans messes up on the keyboards in 
between the bits.  This would be brilliant!).  However, I stayed quiet but 
hearing the Smiths cover was as good as my requests.  They had an audience 
member sing most of the words, as Stuart couldn’t remember them all, and the 
audience member blew us all away!  He sang the song perfectly!  I must say 
that I have much more respect for the rest of the band after seeing them 
onstage.  Isobel’s backing vocals on “Le pastie” just gives me the chills 
every time I listen to a live recording, and Sarah’s voice is splendid.  
Everyone performed exactly as heard on the albums, and the sound was mixed 
perfectly, I was so impressed!

Alright, this post is much too long now, and I haven’t even given as many 
comments as I’d like on this show.  Should go now, but I haven’t even 
mentioned the Sunday show yet!  As everyone has probably skipped my email, 
and congratulations to anyone if he/she has read this much, I promise I’ll 
get back soon with information on the Sunday show.

Cheers and hugs,
Ernie








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