Sinister: Last night a DJ saved my life

[Michael Ashbridge]

**Caveat Emptor**

Röyksopp's gig last night was, in a word, bluddycrap. No support turned up, so 
after two hours of trying to stay hydrated in the stifling humidity of 
Belfast's Mandela Hall, and trying to stay awake after two hours of the most 
tedious filler tape I've ever heard, the Norwegian twosome took the stage. 

And I'm not sure, but I think they brought lots of very fancy computery 
electronic wizardry and fed it at top volume through a couple of £9.99 casio 
speakers. Melody A.M. is a beautiful, intricate, breathtaking album, and I'm 
forever indebted to the McDermott girl for her recommendation, but I think 
there must have been a case of alien body snatching last night. I don't ever 
want to hear cacophonous crap like that again. I can take white noise when it's 
intentional, and when I'm in the mood, but Röyksopp? Get thee to a nunnery, 
boys. 

So we walked out after an hour (the first time I've ever walked out of 
*anything*, and we weren't the only refugees making an exodus), found a nice 
pub, commandeered the radio, tuned it to the last hour of John Peel's show, and 
he did save our lives. 

Beware, brother, beware. 

**Cunning Linguism**

Mr Stuart Gardiner asked, in a round-a-bout way, what the etymology of the 
phrase "on the bandwagon" is. And I'll tell him, and you, because I've just 
finished reading Bill Bryson's Made in America: a History of American English, 
and I want to off-load some of the trivia clogging up my head. 

Bandwagon was a neologism coined by P.T. Barnum in 1855, and was used simply to 
describe one of his many new circus acts: a small band playing atop a horse-
drawn wagon to entertain the crowds. 

In its modern context it refers to the fact that in the late 19th/early 20th 
Century in America there was a tradition of politicians parading around town to 
advertise their candidacy. Often these would take the form of a marching band 
leading, with the candidate standing atop a horse-drawn wagon. In more modest 
parades a smaller band would play on the wagon as well, just as in Barnum's 
circus act. Local notables, both to show their support of a particular 
politician and to add to their own publicity, would climb onto the bandwagon. 
If you have seen the Coen Brothers' "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" you'll know 
what I'm talking about. 

**This is the End**

Here's an interesting piece by John Densmore. He's talking about the pressure 
on bands to flog their old songs to advertisers. The scene in Oliver Stone's 
movie of The Doors where Jim Morrison freaks out because the rest have agreed 
to allow Buick to use Light My Fire to flog their latest car is, apparently, 
quite accurate. 

http://thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020708&c=1&s=densmore

**An interesting chord structure, if structure is the right word**

Post-gig conversation last night, naturally, did not centre on the gig. Instead 
we talked about the last gig we saw in the Mandela -- Belle and Sebastian. (And 
you thought you were never getting any content.)

I mentioned the Peel Acres set and, by no small miracle, just happened to have 
a copy of it in my walkman, right there with me. No one else having heard it, a 
slight jigging of the pub's sound set-up (in retrospect, that's where Röyksopp 
should have played; it was infinitely superior to the tat they brought with 
them) and soon *everyone* was enjoying my oh-so-masterfully edited session 
tape. Twice, even, because it was just that good. Except for Love on the Marsh, 
which was skipped second time around, 'cause I still think it's crap. 

Thing is, a few of the (chronically unhip, granted) youngsters in the place 
came up to us and asked us who was playing. More converts, perhaps. 

I think it's a great idea*, and I recommend that before the month is out each 
one of you takes charge of a pub stereo and subjects the patrons to your own 
B&S mixtape. 

[*Smallprint: I accept no responsibility whatsoever should you misjudge your 
audience and get ripped to shreds by monosyllabic nu-metalers. Your house may 
be at risk if you do not keep up repayments.]


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