Sinister: Offbeat, Coupland, lost friends

[Joanne Hill]

Another new Sinister member...that's me then. I'm Joanne and I'm from 
Macclesfield (in true Blind Date style) but this year I'm in Toronto, 
university year abroad thingy...I 'normally' go to Warwick Uni...I'm on the 
exec of Offbeat there, the original and not-so-superior.

I wish I had an amazing story to tell, about anything, but I've not really. 
I wanted to talk about how I began to love Belle & Sebastian. It was only 
about two years ago, I'm a bit of a late starter when it comes to music, I 
had no friends at school who liked anything resembling indie/alternative - 
although we did have a thing for folk, and Cropredy festival in August. I 
had a friend called John Camm at work in Canterbury, he was about four years 
older, and had just finished his final year at the University if Kent. He 
invited me round to his one summer day. I was seriously hungover and tired 
from a party the night before, but i went anyway. It was from a conversation 
about folk, about Fairport Convention, which led onto Nick Drake, because 
some of the Fairport contingent play on Bryter Layter, and from there it was 
a short step to B&S. I think he was quite excited about his recent purchase 
of Fold Your Hands Child... so he put it on the stereo. I promptly fell in 
love with 'Women's Realm' and 'The Model' but it was a few months before I 
bought my own copy. By then I had been taken in by the warm (but glittery) 
arms of Offbeat, and had lost touch with John. Actually I never saw him 
again after that day of Belle & Sebastian. He had lent me a Douglas Coupland 
novel, but after that disappeared without a trace - back home I assume, 
somewhere near Southampton. I tried, really, to get his book back to him, it 
only took me a day to read, but wherever he was it wasn't Canterbury. Now if 
he is lamenting the loss of that book then well, he could have called me. 
But I guess he is the one to thank for leading me eventually here.

Perhaps I should end here, for now. Going to the Silver Dollar on Spadina 
Ave this evening for live bluegrass.

Any Toronto people, convince me that Canadians are friendly types,
I always need more friends...

Joanne

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