Newsblog

I see this page more as a sort of journal for my own benefit than anything else, and I can't promise how often it'll be updated, but if you are interested in some snippets of what's been going on in my life recently, do read on ... really, be my guest.

*** as mentioned in the 4 July entry below, I'm currently blogging fairly regularly on a great website I'm a member of called tribe.net, so please click here for more of my diary style ramblings ***

4 July 2005 I recently joined a new website called tribe which has a blog facility, and I just used it! I've copied the entry here as its a nice lil snapshot of how things are going at the moment: "its monday and im taking i fairly easy after a busy weekend. On friday I drove up to Liverpool to watch my friend Paul Provenza perform at one of the comedy clubs I book acts for.

Paul was in great great form despite having recently focused much less on stand up than usual due to having spent the last few weeks racing insanely across America promoting his amazing movie The Aristocrats (ive just stated a Tribe on this terrific film). As is usually the way when I see Paul we spent most of the night talking and most of the next day - lots of plans in store.

Made it home saturday in time to meet some friends in Moseley then headed to a Spiegeltent in Birmingham to see a great jazz band called Acoustic Ladyland - well worth seeing - they rock In a jazz way!). Finally a house party with some great live funk going on then a few hours sleep before a 10am date at a recording studio. Spent the day singing and playing versions of poems by the nonsense poet Edward Lear which will comprise a released CD raising money to research a disease called histyocytosis."

Incidentaly, tribe is great - really ana amazing resource for meeting people and following up, exploring and acquiring interests. Recently, our second attpemt at running a show called Question Moseley Time took place during the Moseley Festival - now called Mozfest. Based on the popular BBC political debate show, but using local politicians and other representatives, it was fun, interesting, and seemed quite popular with audience that bravely sat inside on such a sunny evening.

15 April 2005 I'm feeling more centred and whole than, I think, ever before, so thank you to anyone reading who has contributed to this happy state of affairs. Things have been quite hectic with many various opportunities continuing to present themselves. At the same time tho, I find more space for walks, music and meditation (started an eight week meditation course yesterday) and even a social life. I now have eight piano pieces which I can just about perform to standard (nervers notwithstanding) and hope to record soon and in many cases expand into larger works with the collaboration of others. My friend and musical partner Marc Reck celebrates his birthday today - Word up Homes! - and there's a big party tomorrow which is also a joint celebration with Janey and Paul (more birthdays) and also - the opening night of Intercourse - Marc's breaks night. Anyone who doesn't yet know Breaks music - its a tremendous genre (or non-genre) of asbtract but beautiful, uplifting, dirty rhythm with much more variation in terms of the break downs themselves and fluid uses of sound texture and voume etc. The first time I've really felt right dancing in club - techo and drum and bass can be a little bit repetitive to me. There's way to much going on to update everything here - so maybe it'll become more of a mood, blog thing, than a regular diary? Play it by ear ;-)

31 March 2005 Having been working on various things (music mostly and latterly comedy) most of my life, and on a full time basis for over five years, I finally find myself in the position of feeling vaguely on top of things which is great. This is partly to do with the amount of work that is taking shape, also the reading I've done lately, of which more anon, and Ive been meditating every week at the Birmingham Budhist Centre which is working out well. I've also been playing piano for two hours or more most days - both my own music and array of classical stuff which may yet one day lead towards me taking a Diploma exam. I have about eight pieces of my own that I hope to record for piano solo over coming weeks, many of them will also provide a musical basis for a new gig I'm putting together with some close friends which is fast becoming known by its working title of Project X. The Laughterhouses (two in Liverpool and one in Dubai) are doing well after 2 1/2 years of quite intensive work and I've various plans in mind to hopefully work with Paul Provenza, who's amazing movie The Aristocrats is currently gathering well deserved rave reviews in the States. In other news, my sister has now moved to France, there's a definite chance that my partner and I might move to Australia (tho not for another three years minimum), thanks to the way Birmingham culture is taking off we've been to great parties every week for ages, last weekend I walked down Broad Street (one of the rougher ares of Brummie night life) at 2am wearing a skirt (long story), I'm planning edition 2 of Question Moseley Time to take place in this year's Moseley Festival (now called Mozfest) and our MP Lynne Jones (with whom I've had a fair bit of correspondence lately) has agreed to take part.

22 January 05 at last a spare minute to get some news up after a great holiday season and a couple of weeks hard work. Somewhat bewildering array of plans are emerging - all of them vey exciting. Paul Provenza is showing the awesome Aristocrats film at the Sundance Film Festival any day now and in a similar way (if altogether different scale) things seem to really be coming together nearer home too, as the wonderful community of people that I've grown up with here in Moseley (all arty types of one kind or another) have suddenly started to look around and see that what we can do together could be really amazing. Having read The Selfish Gene for the first time, I can suddenly understand in a scientific way the simple truths that up until now have for me been the territory of belief, or philosophy. Much inspired by the amazing chapter on memes which throws a lot of light on my recent experiences.

8 December 04 Last weekend saw Nitin Sawhney at Symphony Hall – one of the best gigs I’ve ever seen. Sawhney had brought together a brilliant group including vocalist Davinder Singh, tabla player Aref Durvesh and the Britten Sinfonia. I found it a deeply rewarding experience not only in terms of the fabulously hybrid music (featuring Sawhney’s own work, Steve Reich, Arvo Part and Bollywood score writer A R Rahman) and the superb musicianship on display, but also simply that so many people had come together to celebrate quality contemporary music without boundaries. For a moment it felt like being in church, in a way that being in a church never does. Listening to good music is like being a flower opening up to the warmth of the sun. Perfectly timed too since I’m deep in discussions with some close friends about putting on a gig of our own – inspiring stuff. Straight form there to Drop Beats not Bombs – a host of great DJs playing in a Medicine Bar so packed we had to queue for ages to get into – fantastic, and all in the name of peace.

23 November 04 We’ve had something in the diary every night for a while now, and plenty more to come, except for last Friday when I took advantage of a quiet one for a romantic evening in - even succeeding in cooking something vaguely approaching a vegtarian raghout. Meanwhile, seen the ever magnificent CBSO twice – once performing a lovely evening of French music including some Ravel and the mighty Symphonie Fantastique (Berlioz) , and the other, the no less large scale and remarkable Pathetique (Tchaikovsky). Saw Dave Hadingham not quite succeeding in connecting with the Moseley crowd at the Comedy Kav and the fabulous fucked up carnival of controlled chaos that is Baxxter at the Adam and Steve (ok, Adam and Eve) – a lovely little pub now featuring live music every tues, weds and sun booked and promoted by Steve Kelly. Since Steve was drumming with Baxxter, I even did a bit of compering throughout the night which looking back on it felt surprisingly comfortable and easy. Saturday saw the ever wonderful Reg Hunter perform at the lovely Slaughterhouse (see this link for a review of a recent show), a performance which prompted Janice Connolly to remark that he is a prophet at much as a comic. Sunday – back at the Adam and Steve for an interesting and lively set from Marc expertly mixing in some alternative tunes in with his more usual breaks and prgressive house, to suit the style of gig. Local poet Brendan also on the bill was highly entertaining with a nice brand of alcohol fuelled and amusing ranting before something of an old style singalong to a house band. Yesterday another road trip this time to Bristol to watch an evening put together by my friend Jack Cowley of all female acts – not straight stand up exactly, more sort of performance art/cabaret – apparently many of the acts perform regularly at festivals in the area. All good stuff and made a nice change, and a pleasure as always to see the magnificent Barbara Nice in action and to put the world to rights at some length with Janice in the car on the way back.

10 November 04 Bless me Farther, it’s been a while since my last update, well, it seems that way anyway. Fancy dress at a beautiful Moseley house (mansion) held by what turned out to be a great Aussie girl called Sara – bit of a short and sweet friendship as it turned out cos she was flying home to Brisbane a couple of days later. I wore a rather spectacular full-length fake leopard skin coat but was outclassed as ever by my Lyndall who offered her interpretation of Roller Girl from ecxellent movie Boogie Nights in, basically, knickers and a bra (and briefly, if wobbly, roller skates). One day of rest later and Palookaville at the Sunflower Lounge (a really great bar/club in B’ham city centre run by a friend a top DJ Paul Cook). The band is an instrumental group playing 50s be bop and rock and roll with some class and a bundle of energy – well work a look. Had the unexpected pleasure on Monday of an invite to see The Play What I Wrote with my good friend and TV script writing partner James Ventham. It was as ever a pleasure to spend times with James and indeed his family, but sad to say the play was a bit shit. Sorry Eric (and James). The next day saw my super special friend Steve Kelly launch a night (Mo fuzz) booking bands at a really nice little pub venue the Adam and Eve. Highlights of the nights were 70s influenced rockers Chester Road and a moving performance of some specially arranged music by my good friend and musical partner Marc Reck directed towards Ali Mack who was due to leave on a one way ticket to Thailand the next morning. Well I say the next morning, I got about one hour’s sleep prior to the drive to Heathrow, but it was a privilege to see Ali off and Marc safely home. In my weaker moments I sometimes wonder that as the comedy scene continues to rapidly expand, the quality will be diluted and my interest will consequently fail. Tonight at the Cheeky Monkey – one of the better pub clubs around - offered no clear answer to that dilemma, tho seeing the mighty Ian Cognito again really lifted my spirits.

27 October 04 An eventful couple of weeks bookended by two remarkable pieces of music. Vaughan Williams 5th Symphony is perhaps my single favourite piece of music – it's certainly the one piece that stirs the most in me. I’d like to write at more length about it sometime, but for now suffice to say that its an extraordinarily powerful work based on thoughts of a spiritual journey. I was lucky enough to hear the fabulous CBSO (are there too many adjectives in this para?) perform the piece in the company of my special friend Ali and my musical partner Marc. We then went on to a party that served as a precursor to the main event which took place on Sat 23rd Oct when Marc, with Steve and Ant organised a party at Robannas fine music studio facility to celebrate my 35th Birthday and as a send off for Ali who sets off to Thailand and beyond in a few days time. The venue was brilliantly set up, Baxxter and Koala Grip were magnificent as were all of the many DJ’s. The party brought into focus two aspects of my life here in Moseley – first that I’ve been fortunate enough to acquire a great many special and wonderful friends, and second that many of them are very talented indeed. Time will hopefully bring everyone the success they deserve. Earlier today I went with my piano pupil Steve to hear the CBSO perform another huge work – Mahler’s Fifth which would have been an incredible experience another time, but today simply rounded off a couple of amazing weeks.

12 October 04 Saw a brilliant return from Baxxter at the Flapper & Firkin – they’ve lost none of their passion and gained some maturity and an extra guitarist and deserve some recognition. Another local, Jules Grey once of a band called Parachute that I saw only once, but greatly enjoyed has finished work on his first solo album and is threatening to bring a copy over at some point which is excellent news. Meanwhile, Steve Jameson, a true gent who ran a great comedy club in London called the Meccano and gave myself and Josh a lot of advice in my early days in comedy headlined the Cheeky Monkey club with a brilliant set as his character act, Sol Bernstein. As someone called Paul wisely said on the Chortle comedy forum is “both the real deal old American style Jewish 'borscht belt' comedian AND a parody of it at the same time.” I’m not generally a fan of character comedy, but Steve is a very gentle and sweet man, and I suspect the more blustery Sol is the perfect vehicle for him to express himself onstage. Following growing concerns re the size of their Christian evangelical activities (mention of which is conspicuously absent from their advertising) we have stopped supporting World Vision and upped our support to other more secular charities instead.

4 October 04 Nice to spend some time with my Sister Jane who’s been visiting but has now returned to a little valley in the Pyrenees where she's in the process of buying a beautiful home (see photos page). Last Saturday we went to see Tosca at Symphony Hall – a rare chance to hear an opera performed by a top orchestra in brilliant acoustics – awesome stuff. Afterwards cut some rug at Sweat – a club that’s been playing funky grooves around the place for ten years now. Marc and I (Ardilez) are getting to grips with technology but thanks to some recent events including Marc conveniently moving in which my two best pals, have meant we aren’t as far ahead as we hoped. Still hoping to get a track down for our upcoming party tho. Been out every night this week until now, couple of nights of comedy, leading up to this weekend, the grand opening of our new comedy venue, Laughterhouse at Baby Blue. The opening was a big success, with plenty of celebs and press, and four top comics really working hard and creating a great audience within excellent conditions. It couldn’t have gone much better if we’d have had six months to organise it, rather than six weeks. Fingers crossed for a long and successful future.

22 September 04 Saw the fabulous comic Paul Provenza in action on Friday having spent a lot of time with him in Edinburgh whilst never actually seeing him onstage. A superb set culminated in a devastating section on religion which was funny, truthful and powerful. During the long night of comedy related talk that followed, Paul showed me his excellent movie which has just been finished, its hilarious and fascinating and is likely to cause quite a stir if he can find someone with enough sense to distribute it properly. The film concerns the world’s dirtiest joke (sort of like a room 101 in joke form) told by an amazing array of comic greats. You can read more about it here and download the Southpark section which is hilarious on its own News: World's dirtiest joke committed to film. Meanwhile the Laughterhouse gig in Dubai is going well.

Out Saturday night with the usual suspects and a restful Saturday which was much needed as Monday was my Nannas funeral. As I was Marjorie Simpson’s eldest grandson and we had a very special bond, my Mum asked me to write a short piece for the Vicar to read out after the more biographical section that she prepared.

"I was very lucky to spend time with Marjorie (to me, always, Nanna). Her sheer joy for life, and love for people seemed undimmed by time or troubles, and to touch everyone she met. I’m very grateful for her long life and in particular the time we were able to spend together recently. I was too young to remember anything of the time that Nanna lived with us, as her husband Albert died just after I was born, but I do have some very warm and wonderful memories of visiting her in the lovely flat where I live now. In the last few years of her life, Nanna loved to reminisce about those happy times and even later on, when certain stories started cropping up quite regularly, it was always a special moment when we shared those feelings. One of those stories took place when a friend of Nanna’s was visiting. Like many visitors, she was moved by the happy atmosphere in the flat and she asked me how much I loved her. It was a bit of an abstract question for a young child, but I gave it my best and replied “not as much as I love Nanna”. She pressed for a more meaningful response, so I took a while to think, and eventually replied “as much as that window”. Nanna loved that story because in those pre-double glazing days, the window occupied almost the whole of one wall -making the whole room shine, and I had attempted to explain my love for this relative stranger by pointing out the largest thing I could think to compare it to. With hindsight, I think that Nanna also appreciated an unspoken truth contained in that story, something I didn’t fully understand myself until after she had gone. I loved her more than the window."

15 September 04 Up at the Edinburgh Festival for a fantastic week. Exhausting, but wonderful – a beautiful city packed full of every arts or entertainment event you can think of, great restaurants and bars, and buzzing with exciting people. Spent much of the time in the company of Paul Provenza, an American comic with a tremendous love of comedy and the knack for making things happen more or less constantly. Greatly enjoyed also meeting Dean Cameron, and between us, heckling the fuck out of a med student sketch show, members of which had disrupted Paul’s show the night before. It was hilarious, and very liberating to heckle, something I never normally do. As it happens, the very next night, a tired looking Milton Jones on his third gig of the evening was being given a very hard time by a drunk at the late show at The Stand. Despite his structured material (mostly brilliant surreal one liners) Milton is great at controlling a crowd, but this guy was too drunk to shut up. In one quiet moment after the guy started rambling obscenely about his dead grandma, flushed with my success as a feldgling heckler, I heckled with a comment about her dying of a peanut allergy, which lead Milton into one of his best jokes, after which the audience cheered so loud, the guy finally quiet moaning. The good karma doesn’t stop there tho, because that exact joke was the first one (bar the MC that night) rhar I ever saw uttered by a comic on a stand up stage, an event that was to change my life. A couple of nice Gidea Park gigs were to follow including a crowd of thousands at a lovely outdoor gig on the sea front at Morecambe. Since then been a hectic time, with comedy getting very exciting – our new club in Liverpool opens soon, and the Dubai gig is exciting. Personal events have been dominated by the death of my Nanna who finally slipped away at the age of 91 and is greatly missed, and fondly remembered.

5 August 04 Didn’t meet with Marc for Ardilez tonight cause he’s finishing some work on a mix CD ahead of going off to a festival tomorrow with my wonderful friend Ali. It’s given me a quiet evening in and I’ve updated this site so it’s all current again. I’m really enjoying working with Marc – with the right keyboards, software, decks and computers, which we now have, the possibilities for composing; recording and performing music are virtually endless. I think this is the way forward; we all have the chance now to make the music we want and share it with whoever we like. It’s something I find very exciting, and tho its all going to take time, I think our prospects for doing something worthwhile are pretty good. Watch this space! Combined with the fact that I’m really starting to feel comfortable on stage (with Gidea Park), I’m really starting to feel like a musician again, which is good. I love my work in comedy and enjoy the writing, but my love for music has never gone away, and as I get older, its only growing more and more. I’m even listening to much more music - it helps that I'm starting to relax after going through a lot of changes in recent months. I may just have finished adolescence about seventeen years late, but sitting and thinking about what I might get up to over the twenty or thirty years, how much better I will get to know my wonderful partner and friends, the new people to meet and the possibility of retiring somewhere sunny one day, I’m looking on the bright side.

3 August 04 Another good Gidea Park gig - a couple of years in and I'm starting to feel a lot more comfortable as performer - give us a half decent audience and watch us go! Personally, some interesting times - a funeral and a hospital visit yesterday and a somewhat introspective day today.

23 July 04 Some nice Gidea Park gigs last weekend, including a crowd of around 5,000 in front of a semi-ruined stately home near Newcastle upon Tyne, and perhaps even more surreally, standing in for a Mungo Jerry as support to the Stranglers to an even bigger crowd in a market place in the middle of Kings Lynn. Some interesting developments in the Liverpool comedy scene are definitely going to see some major expansions which Laughterhouse may well be a part of. Ardilez is still going strong, we may have our first track ready before long. Meanwhile, the Liverpool comedy festival saw us play host to a number of great acts – Daniel Kitson, Tommy Tiernan, Boothby Graffoe and Howard Marks to name a few.

30 June 04 Whirlwind days at the moment, but all good. Now had several sessions with new musical partner Marc Reck and enjoying them immensely. With a decent keyboard, PC, some software and mic you can pretty compose and record in real time – very freeing and hopefully very productive. There’s a learning curve, but as we go we’re churning out lots of ideas, all we need to do at some point soon is try and push one through to completion. Feels good to be making music again - all those hours spent fiddling around on the piano may yet pay off! The Laughterhouse is going fairly well despite attendance challenges from Euro 2004 – we have some stunning acts coming up as part of the Liverpool Comedy Festival and our first Dubai gig takes place next week. Also doing a lot of journalism lately, and several Gidea Park gigs. Spent some wonderful time with my Godson and have been seeing a fair bit of comedy – Will Smith’s Edinburgh show was great. Spent a great evening chatting with a guy who’s priest and a philosophy lecturer tho I’ve managed to get my head out of the clouds a bit lately, having spent a hell of a lot of time thinking about such things. Definitely retaining an interest (in all things) but at least not so much that I cant sleep! Got some answers at least.My partner and I also stood for local government a couple of weeks ago. Despite standing as paper candidates and not doing any campaigning we managed to poll over 500 votes each. I’m quite keen to get more involved with the Greens, but have a tremendous amount on at the moment so it may have to wait.

25 May 04 Last weekend I had a very pleasant Saturday relaxing and thinking, before Sunday lunch with my parents and Nanna and then off to sunny Bognor Regis for a Gidea Park gig. Fairly fun gig, tho got back fairly late and had to interview opera singer Katarina Karneus at 9am – an early move for me at the best of times. My interview technique is slowly improving – a small breakthrough came when I interviewed Julian Joseph – who in an effort to better explain jazz to me, told me that my pre-prepared questions are a little like the pre-arranged harmonic basis for jazz. Up until this point, I was really trying to write the interview in advance. Although I did previously have one or two “in the moment” moments when an interview really became interesting, it was mostly sticking to a simple path – hopefully I can improve on this as time goes on. (It’s an interesting parallel with music – I’d like to learn to improvise properly on keys too, I have a feeling it might unlock a lot of music in me). Speaking of which I had the pleasure of watching Koala Grip in rehearsal in the week – they really are an exciting, different and talented band. Closer to home I met a friend of mine whom I hope is going to turn out to be the person with whom Ardilez might finally come to fruition. Also seen Ronnie Golden at a local club - quite enjoyed tho was particularly impressed by Nick Doody who still has some way to go, but might be rather good when he gets there. Oh and Friday saw the greatly enjoyable launch party of the excellent Fierce Festival which is always good fun to watch and for that matter take part in. After which we went to top club night House of God.

14 May 04 In two successive concerts at Symphony Hall, I had the privilege to see pianist John Lill perform all 5 Beethoven Piano Concertos. He was excellent, particularly in the earlier concertos, tho I felt that he could perhaps have brought a little more freedom and intensity to the later ones, particularly the Fifth (the Emperor) which is one of my favourite pieces. I have done at least a dozen interviews now for Metro, tho up until recently they had all been by phone. I’ve now gone one better and interviewed Claude-Michel Schonberg (composer of Les Miserables and Miss Saigon) in person. Happily, the interview went well. In other news, the guy who started my band has just left the Beach Boys, but as yet no call has been received begging me to take his place (!). In comedy news, the Laughterhouse gigs in Dubai now look certain to be happening, so I’m looking forward to working on those.

27 April 04 The National Youth Choir concert was a tremendous success, with over 400 current, junior and ex-members singing well, and guest appearances from Sir David Willcocks, John Rutter and the Kings Singers. I was pleased to find that despite the various forms of abuse its suffered over the years, my voice was still up to the task, so if I ever want to return to classical singing, the option's there.

Saturday night saw a great little evening at the soon to be demolished Old Railway in Digbeth organised by perhaps my two closest friends (who happen to comprise a great two piece band, Koala Grip). Spent several hours before the gig and the next day driving an old ambulance around small brummie back streets to ferry the gear and crashed it only once. The gig featured some top class jamming (in which I discovered a new found talent for playing the bongos) and some great Djing including my friend Marc Reck.

16 April 04 Returned last Sunday morning from a five week holiday in Australia and Malaysia with my lovely partner, which was fabulous. Spent most of a month relaxing in Adelaide which is a pleasant enough place. Big old country town basically, but boasting lots of good, cheap restaurants and nice parks and gardens. Caught a stage production of the superb Twelve Angry Men (mostly featuring stand up comics rather than actors, who were mostly very good, especially Phil Nichol who’s performance stood out). This was part of the pleasant, if modest Adelaide Fringe, as was a performance of The Caretaker which I saw for the first time, with its fascinating Pinter dialogue which at first seems stilted and artificial but somehow becomes completely naturalistic as the play progresses.

We took a week out from my partner’s family and friends duties to spend time backpacking in the Outback which was great. Uluru is stunning, tho possibly eclipsed by the lesser known Olgas. Camping under the stars was a remarkable experience, the skies out there are amazing and the landscape reminiscent of a sparsely populated Mars. The flies were a pain, but scenery, the flora and fauna, the company and the relaxed traveling vibe were wonderful.

Highlight of the trip tho was a week in Borneo on the way back home. In particular three days spent camping in an area of Jungle accessible only by a long boat ride courtesy of the truly amazing Uncle Tan. I’d recommend this experience to anyone even vaguely physically able, as a remarkable way to get very close to the jungle, and wildlife such as Orang Utans, Monkeys (of several kinds), crocodiles, huge monitor lizards, amazing birds, scorpions, spiders, huge butterflies and millipedes etc all in their own undisturbed habitat.

Back home, our flat has now been completely redecorated, and I’ve already fitted in one Gidea Park gig and am now preparing for a weekend of singing with a National Youth Choir reunion concert the rehearsals for which are conveniently happening at my old school and the concert takes place on Sunday in Symphony Hall.

2.3.04
It’s been an exciting and intense three weeks, and I’m now looking forward to a holiday. Not much time to write up now, but highlights have included seeing the legendary Brian Wilson perform his “lost” Smile album for the first time ever at the Royal Festival Hall. I’m not going to write an essay here, but essentially my view is that if Pet Sounds was Brian looking inwards, then Smile was his look outwards. It’s a staggeringly brilliant work that combines many musical styles into a montage of art and beauty, check it out! Meanwhile, I sat as a judge on the Chortle student comedy awards which was great fun, and have spent a bit of time trying to get to know my family, which has proved very rewarding.

15.2.04
With my partner off on holiday in (very) sunny Australia at the moment, I was able to devote lots of extra energy to other things this week. Had a great evening meeting with a young film maker who might just be the ideal person to get our TV project moving and a memorable night out on my own (to see what it was like) and the opportunity to catch up with some old friends have all been great fun.

9.2.04
Another very hectic week with an apparent shortfall in highly experienced comics causing stress at Laughterhouse (tho all actually worked out fine in the end), and preparations from my loved one’s departure on a two-month holiday. Btw – on subject of Laughterhouse, we continue to sell out most shows and last week comic legend Ian Cognito did nearly 1 ½ hours to a standing ovation before leaving the stage to hug the owner of the club (and Cogs isn’t always best disposed towards venue owners) and dance around proclaiming over and again that we run the best gig in the country. High praise from someone who’s opinion I have great respect for.

A corporate Gidea Park gig on Saturday wasn’t the most fun we’ve ever had on stage, but was nonetheless enjoyable and besides I long ago learned that even the gigs with less then completely attentive audiences can be fun so long as you don’t take it all too seriously and remind yourself now and then of how many days of a crappy office job one would need to make the same money. After the gig attended a great ticket only house party, which we quit well into the morning only to move onto an impromptu first viewing of a video we appeared in for the wonderful band Koala Grip. After all of that we spend the rest of the night making new friends at a different but equally great party which culminated in a mass wander round Moseley Bog in the glorious morning sunlight. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad week after all!

27.1.04
Back into the swing of things lately. Saw the excellent comic Nick Revell again and he also made his Laughterhouse debut this weekend. I first saw Nick at Edinburgh 2003 tho he has in fact been a performer for many years he's (just returned after taking a 10 year break). Great performer and all round comic. The first Gidea Park gig of the new year was fun and holiday preparations are already under way. Heard the CBSO play Messiaen's Turangalila which was quite an experience - not that easy to love at first hearing, but impressive none the less. The group playing traditional Indian music in the first half were great too and put me in a suitably rhythmic mood for the drum and bass night I attended later. Had an enquiry about booking some comedy in Malta, and the Metro is allegedly expanding soon, which is good news for me.

13.1.03
We've emerged unscathed into 2004 - been pretty busy with work and accounts, tho thankfully the latter are now safely in the hands of my new accountant. Christmas and New Year were quite good. Having rejected any sort of necessity to have a good time on these odd days some time ago, I now find that if your expectations are realistic, it can be quite a fun time of year. Working hard also for money for our looming trip to Australia and the possibility that my partner is going to want to live there again at some point in the future is one to digest over time.

17.12.03
Had my first piano lesson in some years with my esteemed teacher. Will have another soon with a view to finally taking the Diploma exam next year, tho ever since the lesson work (journalism especially) has been piling in making me question the commitment. Right now, as is often the case, many different options present themselves for next year. Hmmm. Meanwhile, a truly excellent party (pimps and hos) in Nottingham at the weekend resulted in making several new friends including a dog called Patch and his lovely owner. The poor dog might remember that walk for a while. Trying to work out some way of bringing either (or both) of current Beach Boy Bruce Johnston or ex Beach Boy David Marks over for a gig or two - hoping to be a part of his support band if so, but its a long shot at this stage. I've lately taken to reading up on philosophy late at nights - not helping me sleep too well, but fascinating stuff.

5.12.03
Unable to sleep for thinking about the design parameters for my new website about comedy booking, how tragic. To be fair, my body clock is also out of whack due to a late night yesterday singing Beach Boys songs very loudly to a big crowd seemingly mostly comprised of cute girls in bikinis. Could be worse. Early this week enjoyed a comedy show featuring the genuinely bizarre Andrew Bailey and the funny and always charming gentleman of comedy, Mr Steve Jameson. In other news, a really interesting looking Indie film company has expressed a keen interest in our TV synopsis and a provisional date has been set for the first AGM of the British Amateur Winking Society. Off to an excellent Inukshuk free party tomorrow (tonight).

20.11.03
Had the welcome opportunity to see Michael Moore, both in concert and press conference where I got to ask a few questions. Perhaps more than any of the the rest of the other entertainers I admire, Moore is really making changes. He's been doing gigs here and all over the US to thousands at a time that are approaching rallies (tho funny ones I assure you) and I reckon he's having a genuine effect in the States especially. I reckon Dubya and co might have bitten off more than they can chew with this guy! Also, Reg Hunter proved last night that he was not only worth his Perrier Nomination, but could easily have won it. Stunning stuff. Attended somewhat poorly attended anti-war demo in Birmingham, pleased that the Greens spoke well, and are offering an alternative. Now looking forward to standing next year. Friday night was at Inukshuk, a well recommended Birmingham club night that supported the homeless.

12.11.03
This week saw Craig Campbell on excellent form at the Glee Club. Whilst I didn't make a success of being a comic agent (partly I think because the role doesn't suit me and partly for other reasons at the time) it's nice to see that the many of the acts whom I represented for a while - particularly Reginald D Hunter, Craig Campbell, Glenn Wool and Mrs Barbara Nice - not only doing very well, but genuinely being some of the best acts around at the moment. Meanwhile, back in the present day, The Slaughterhouse (the pub which houses the Laughterhouse, the comedy club I book for) has just been named Best Entertainment Pub out of over 4,000 competitors. The award seems to have come in no small part due to the comedy club and is a tremendous pat on the back for all concerned.

21.10.03
Another interesting meeting re our TV show last week, this time with the head of ITV comedy. It was really quite encouraging without at the same time representing really tangible progress. It’s a steep learning curve (as with any new arena) but progress is being made and today we radically refined the synopsis with, I think, considerable success.

13.10.03
Things are getting busier again, Summer must be over! In the last week, I’ve watched two excellent comics – Simon Munnery (being Alan Parker Urban Warrior) and Glenn Wool (being very much himself) at a local club, both proving that it's perfectly possible to challenge people's boundaries and perspectives using only words, and making the whole process highly entertaining to boot. Also spent an interesting day observing a film set in London and being treated to a brief but intense masterclass in writing for TV from comedy hero and author of Father Ted and Black Books, Graham Linehan, played a Gidea Park gig at a large charity fundraiser and attended a Duckie, a party/performance event to close Swarm – a celebration of British contemporary art in the Midlands.

19.9.03
The last few days have been a little strange. I can best describe it by saying that I've had a bit of a moment (alright an Epiphany). I talked for over 24 hours with only a brief sleep break, and then still couldn't sleep until after I had got up and written down the following (make of it what you will and don't worry, I'm all better now): "I am what I am. I do not judge, I only chose. There is no wrong. It is what it is. I chose to help others, but I have responsibility only to myself. I chose to love others, but to be happy I need only love myself. To hate others, is to hate myself. If I do not condemn, I need not forgive. Conflict arises when I allow either myself, or other people to prevent me from being what I am. Only the present and the future matter, because the past cannot be changed. The past only matters in as much as I chose to let it affect the present and the future. There is only It. We are conscious parts of It. If It is conscious, that consciousness is God. I don’t know what consciousness is, for all I know, rocks are conscious. No rules, just goals. I am free. Don't be afraid. Be what you are." Edit - my feelings about god have since changed - stop anthropomorphising reality already.

15.9.03
We have one of the largest free arts festivals in the world going on in Birmingham this beautifully sunny weekend, but I spent Saturday with Gidea Park in Amsterdam. My first foreign gig (if you don’t count Scotland) and great fun, if tiring (about 4 hours sleep out of 48). The journey gave me the chance to do a fair bit of reading – on the recommendation of Mark Thomas, who has kindly expressed an interest in talking further about a project together, I’m reading One No Many Yeses by Paul Kingsnorth. A fascinating insight into the globalisation resistance movement and I’m looking forward to the later chapters which im hoping will throw up some answers (or at least clues) to the some of the issues puzzling me at the moment. Meanwhile, a synopsis for a TV show I devised with a friend seems to be gaining some amazing support from some seriously well connected people .. watch this space.

29.8.03
Enjoyable interview with Philip Dyson yesterday. Dyson is a world renowned concert pianist with a great love for Gershwin, Joplin and a British pianist composer who was hugely popular during the early years of BBC Radio – Billy Mayerl. Phillip is also a fan of British classical composers, as is Vernon Handley (today’s article). Already a fan of 20st Century British classical music, I’ve been interested to learn more about Arnold Bax, a familiar name who proves to be yet another in the canon of criminally underrated British composers. Check out his symphonies!

26.8.03
Its been a fun Summer. Kicked off with a few days up at the Edinburgh festival, the highlight of which was the excellent Boothby Graffoe, followed by a few days at Shambala – a terrific little festival set in a field near Plymouth. Since returning we had the distinct pleasure of welcoming comedy hero Mark Thomas to the Laughterhouse for a special warm up gig and meanwhile the decoration of our flat continues unabated. Back to some work now ..

18.7.03
A new PC is my excuse for late update, but what fun it is having broadband, a scanner and a CD burner - hurrah for technology. Just interviewed a charming and amusing Boothby Graffoe, and now booking some comedy gigs in Dubai which is nice. My links with The Laughterhouse are being strengthened and things are going well - its nice to fully involved in comedy once more after getting distracted for a while. The weather's been good recently and this has coincided with the sudden prevalence of mexican mushrooms in high street shops .. nice! Having my new PC together means that I'm now close to being able to start recording music again, but don't hold your breath, there's a lot on at the moment.

24/6/03
Yes, the GAG Club is all over. The last night was an emotional one, with Mrs Barbara Nice on magnificent form as always. I'll miss it in some ways, but not in others! When I have time, the website will be updated to a lasting memorial to what was a damn fine comedy club.
Lots of Gidea Park gigs at the moment which is fun including a VW rally on saturday, also lots of DIY. Dropped in at Symphony Hall to hear the CBSO play Rach 2 and the fourth Symphony of Charles Ives, a really interesting and highly recommended 20th Century American composer.

31/5/03
Counting back from today - watched Vanilla Sky on the DVD last night - superb movie. Cameron Crowe is my new cinematic hero (not just cos he gives all the main people in his films a copy of Pet Sounds) and actors I've come to admire recently include Benicio del Toro and Joaquin Phoenix. Night before that, watched my beautiful partner taking part in an art event pragmatically titled "20 women drumming topless". Did what it said on the tin really. This was part of the Fierce Festival, organised by the wonderful Anne-Marie Pope as was our last Saturday night experience "Visions of Excess", the contents of which I'm, leaving to your imagination (you're not even close!).

Meanwhile, sad news is that The GAG Club is going to finish on Tuesday. Its been such a big part of my life for six years that I can hardly imagine life without it, but its not as if I don't have enough other things going on to keep me busy. My comedy needs are more than taken care of by the great success and ambitious expansion plans of The Laughterhouse. Also, a meeting on Thursday with the superb satirical comedian Mark Thomas proved to be a fairly positive first step towards his involvement in my new project. This is something that's been very slowly developing over about a year and will continue to gradually take shape. There's talk of a "making of" documentary which would be interesting.

On the musical front, I'm still pottering around with the piano pieces for a Diploma, particularly enjoying my first Bach Toccata and Fugue, and am thinking of taking part in a concert tribute to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of one of my great heroes Dennis Wilson. Speaking of which, his brother Brian is finally going to unveil his legendary unreleased album Smile at a concert in London in February next year - naturally I have tickets! I would probably go twice but am likely to be flying out to Australia very soon after and thus will miss the Birmingham show.

7/5/03
Lovely show at the GAG Club last night featuring the extraordinary natural talents of one of my favourite comics, Adam Bloom. The gig may yet turn out to be the penultimate GAG Club show ever. It will be sad if so as the gig is doing rather well, continuing to attract some great acts, and averaging over 100 in the audience. However, such are the costs of putting on events at mac that the financial side can be a problem, and on a more positive note, the rest of my work is going so well, that something probably has to give.

Meanwhile, after the quiet winter period, we have three Gidea Park gigs to look forward to next week, the redecoration of my flat continues, I'm giving some thought to standing as a Green councillor next year, and the damn fine comedy club I book for in Liverpool - The Laughterhouse, has now expanded to neighbouring Southport, with more gigs looking likely soon.

24/4/03
Since my partner and I are planning to visit Australia again next year we wanted to get a holiday in early this year and consequently found ourselves in Cyprus for two weeks. It's already horribly overdeveloped in some places, and is probably way too full of tourists in full summer, but in Spring it's definitely worth a visit. We hired a 4x4 and spent much of the time racing around in it, looking for beauty spots (there are a few, and there's millions of wild flowers). Highlights were Aphrodite's rock, a mighty trek up the Avgas gorge and many fine dinners, particularly at the Manhattan restaurant - Cypriot food is great!

Since then it's been back to work and getting the flat sorted. The vast amount of the decorating was actually done by certain friends whilst we were on holiday. They did a great and incredibly generous job, and perhaps even more importantly it's wonderful to know we have such great friends.

19/3/03
Hectic again, but managing to fit some relaxation in during the nice weather including an interesting trip into inner space immediately followed by a confusing visit to a swimming pool, and last weekend a lovely day out at the Batsford Arboretum - well worth a visit even if I don't seem likely to inherit it at some point.

Meanwhile, work goes well with a new branch of the Laughterhouse to open in Southport and some very interesting plans on the go which involve meetings with Robert Newman and Howard Marks over the next couple of days. I'm lucky to be able to meet so many interesting people - on which I yesterday interviewed an opera librettist (and senior policeman!) about a fascinating sounding character, the 2nd Earl of Rochester. It turns out that Rochester wrote some of the finest love poems in the language as well as being a fine political satirist and writing some of the funniest and rudest poems yet written - the Derek and Clive of his day! And today, from his New York hotel room I had a nice chat with the king of Argentinean Nuevo Tango, Pablo Ziegler.

5/3/03
Quiet couple of weeks really, now my various endeavours are finally earning some reasonable dosh, I'm all caught up in decorating and replacing the knackered central heating. That and buying tons of Beach Boys stuff over the net. The GAG Club went quite well last night despite a cancellation from the planned headliner. The rest of the acts were great and replacement headliner Bennett Arron was particularly fine.

19/2/03
Damn, I've left it too late again and now I'll have to try and remember a fortnight. Last weekend saw the first Gidea Park gig of 2003 - not a great gig really, but nice to be back in the saddle again as it were. We're hoping to get a new website up soon and have potential gigs in Barcelona and Dubai in the pipeline, so that can't be bad. The week before I saw Mark Thomas on tour at mac - superb as always and talking a great deal of sense, and he has some fond memories of the old GAG Club too which is nice, maybe we'll tempt him back one day. We also greatly enjoyed the Chisinau National Opera companies production of La Boheme at the Alex. Good production of a very moving opera - I think I'm turning into an opera fan … must be getting old.

5/2/03
Crikey - without this thing to update I wouldn't be able to remember last week. Anyhow, The GAG Club was great last night with 145 happy punters watching Simon Munnery career through brilliant verbal trickery and penetrating truth. Last Saturday saw the Beach Bums really pulled it outta the bag. Our usual guitarist wasn't available for a gig booked in the lovely Sunflower Lounge, so we spent all the Sunday before training up an excellent replacement in the form of Les Black only for him to be taken into hospital with breathing problems the day before the gig. However, an unknown young guitarist named John Hawkesworth stepped in and with only a few hours rehearsal … we rocked! Back on Monday 27th we say An Inspector Calls at The Rep - a play written in the 40s, but sadly its themes of social justice seem just as relevant today.

20/1/03
Perhaps the perfect week despite soldiering through the flu. Ended up writing 17 articles by the end of the week, but was proud to have got them all done in time to fully enjoy a great weekend. Nice relaxed Friday involving gate crashing a small but nice party before a leisurely game or two of pool. Saturday saw the first visit of soon to be comedy legend and old friend of mine Reginald D Hunter to the Laughterhouse comedy club. Its obviously totally immodest to say - since I book their acts - but I really do think the Laughterhouse is now one of the best gigs in the country, and that Reg is perhaps the best comic there is. After the better part of an hour closing set, the audience didn't know if they'd simply been entertained, or had some kind of religious experience. When Reg is onstage, its just about the only time in a comedy club when (aside from laughing in the right places obviously) - the audience is complete silent. It's a great feeling. And finally Sunday we went to see Daniel Barenboim conducting Brahms First and Third Symphonies. Its great music and the orchestra sounded magnificent due to a combination of their natural talents - the superb acoustics of Symphony Hall, and the smoking I'd been doing earlier in the afternoon.

14/1/03
Well, we emerge into 2003 relatively unscathed having had a quietish holiday season then got right back into work. I've recently been writing an unprecedented amount - 15 Metro articles this week alone, tho current news on Out There magazine is that it may fold before the first issue comes out. Last weekend we saw the wonderful Janice Connolly in Panto and a fine gig at The Laughterhouse which I'm pleased to say continues to go from strength to strength. The gig I book for in Bedford has folded which is a shame, but it was never the best run gig in the world and I've got more work than I can handle as it is, so perhaps not such a great loss. Just goes to show that running a good comedy club is a labour of love - its not the fast route to financial gain, that's for sure.

18/12/02
Last night was the first Beach Bums gig for a while which was exhausting, but hugely enjoyable. We played over an hour of the rockier numbers excepting a slower version of California Dreaming and went down very well with the student crowd. Hoping to get quite a few more similar gigs next year once our demo is finished. Journalism work has remained plentiful tho now just winding down for Xmas. I've now written for four different Metro regions about classical music and have covered comedy, bars and restaurants and theatre for a cool sounding new magazine called Out There. Last Friday my young lady and I attended a very interesting night at Subway City wearing barely one full set of clothes between us .. nuff said(!)

4/12/02
The rush of journalism continues unabated with welcome news of commissions for the Leeds Metro which may - fingers crossed - include a phone interview with Lady Walton, widow of Sir William Walton. Walton was one of the greatest composers of the last century, and he wrote Belshazzar's Feast - probably the most extraordinary piece of music I've ever sung (with the National Youth Choir to a sold out Albert Hall in 1988).

Meanwhile last night Donna McPhail was superb at the GAG Club where we once again scored over 100 punters. Donna seems to get better every time I book her. Mary Bourke and the splendid Ryan Gough were terrific last minute open spots, and Kiwi comic Jarred Christmas returned to the club that gave him his first ever gig in the UK a couple of years back.

Last week we ate well at Mechu, tho the buggers charged us for the drinks! Harrumph. Off to hang out with the ever charming Howard Marks tomorrow as I've booked him for the fantastic Laughterhouse comedy club in Liverpool.
Somewhat bizarrely, Lyndall and I have been living together for sometime now, but are stuck in one room of our flat, as my lodger and friend Mr B refuses to move out! I've been reading up on eviction law ..

27/11/02
Seems I'm in danger of accidentally becoming a journalist with no less than ten articles to write this week, and none of them even about comedy! Doing bars and restaurants turns out to be fun, had nice (and free) dinner at Après last night. In other news, The Beach Bums have been access to a 16 track digital recorder, so watch out for noisy versions of Beach Boys classics downloadable soon.

20/11/02
In some ways things are quiet at the moment, not too many gigs around, but I've been taking stock of the amount of projects I've got ongoing, or at least in development, and its making my head spin! Meanwhile, Monday saw the repeat airing of our episode of Car Sharks on Bravo which we watched for the first time. Rather to our surprise, it turned out to be pretty good, with some ultra fast editing keeping it all pretty entertaining. In other news, signs are looking good for me to further flex my journalistic muscles writing for a big new magazine due for launch early next year. Three of my closest friends have taken the plunge and gone into business together - check out their site, complete with webcam. Oh, and the new Harry Potter movie is way too long!

12/11/02
Taster of life as a working musician yesterday as Gidea Park played a corporate do in Edinburgh - that's a 600 mile round trip. Had there been no money involved, it would have been rather too much like hard work, but as a way to earn money, it beats having a real job! Enjoying my journalism at the moment, having written a couple of pieces last week for the Manchester Metro and Canadian comic Jason Rouse was superb at The GAG Club, which happily seems to be regularly attracting good crowds in its home at mac (Midlands Arts Centre).

29/10/02
A nice lull after a hectic summer, usual mini bouts of flu and a birthday to contend with. Got a beautiful Jack Vettriano print from my young lady and had a good weekend featuring dinner at Ponte de Legno in Moseley, dancing at Trigger at the Med Bar and rounding off with a gentle Sunday night of seeing old pal Howard Marks at the Alexandra Theatre. Unfortunate reminder of the fact that I've made sadly little progress with the track I'm trying to record featuring Howard's spoken vocals, but I have the right keyboard for the job now, just need to win the lottery and get a better PC! Off to see the Labeque sisters at Symphony Hall tonight.

9/10/02
The icBirmingham Comedy Festival started well with the New Act final seeing Mrs Barbara Nice on particularly stunning form in a rare visit to The Glee. The weekend was largely spent in the company of Steve Kelly and others, continuing to lead the rock and roll life style in full - and then some. Steve also accompanied me to a Gidea Park gig in Bristol and will now hopefully be arranging more gigs for us through Big bear Music where he now works. And so to The GAG Club Tenth Anniversary Gig:
It went very well I'm pleased to say - what looked like a pretty much sold out 200 seater saw Mrs Barbara Nice again on top form having put a lot of effort into making the show special, even to the extent of dreaming up some quiz questions relating to 1982 - exactly ten years before the club started! Hattie Hayridge started the show with her usual laid back charm, Alfie Joey was on fire for a ten minute guest post and the living legend of Reginald D Hunter mesmerized the audience for an all too brief half an hour - all of which left Barbara to thrill the crowd with a genuine stage dive, only to be carried by the audience shoulder high around the theatre.

As is often the case I was too busy/stressed and in this case unwell to really enjoy the night itself, but today I'm experiencing a massive sense of relief at not only the success of that particular show, but more importantly some kind of validation of thousands of hours of hard work, stress and worry of the last five years. Or to put it another way .. it makes it seem all worth while.

4/10/02
and eclectic it proved to be - the Aida production was good, and well lubricated by free Russian Champagne too - who says journalism doesn't have its rewards? Verdi's music seems a little staid to me, especially when you consider how late he was (post Mozart and a Wagner contemporary) but its an enjoyable opera and I liked the traditional production. Tuesday saw Gidea Park playing to a small but selective corporate do comprised chiefly of flirty women and dangerously drunk old men then last night the Beach Bums played to a group of BBC technical types on their night off - and what technicians they were with a large wooden table as a keys stand and staging that gradually moves apart like a boat drifting away from shore when the guitarist strikes a suitably axe hero style pose. Good fun tho.

30/9/02
The Laughterhouse is up and running well and preparations for The GAG Club's Tenth Anniversary gig are also looking good. Enjoyed interviewing and subsequently watching talented comic duo Susan and Janice recently - their latest show "Out of Our Heads" is a pleasing blend of play and sketch show. I'm in no way regretting my decision to give up (at least temporarily) performing stand up - despite my fairly reasonable early successes, it is very hard to do well, and I simply don't have the available time and dedication to put my all into it. Instead I'm very much enjoying running and booking clubs, doing increasingly more journalism, playing in two bands, developing a TV idea (of which more later), and soon I hope to start recording music again. That's enough for this young man … for now. Meanwhile off to the Opera tomorrow and then a Gidea Park corporate gig on Wednesday - its eclectic, you've got to admit that.

16/9/02
The opening night of The Laughterhouse was I'm pleased to say a great success with all the acts - Howard Read in particular - doing very well indeed. The club really is everything a good club should be: intimate, friendly, very well run and totally dedicated to the succss of the comedy shows, rather than purely to turning a profit. Please do visit the website, or better yet, the club itself. Gidea Park and Beach Bum gigs are doing well, and ArtsFest was its usual self. I'm now able to start turning more attention to preparing for The GAG Club Tenth Anniversary show on 8th October.

5/9/02
Been busy booking the finest comics in the country for a new show in Liverpool that shows every sign of being a truly fantastic comedy gig - potentially one of the best in the country. The last Gidea Park gig was at a steam rally of all things - an absolutely massive affair, quite a surreal, but pleasurable experience. On the way back Lyndall and I stopped by about half a dozen truly amazing bits of prehistoric Britain that are dotted around the Wiltshire/Dorset border. Since then, two more dodgy pub comedy gigs are rapidly starting to convince me that being as busy as I am, schlepping around the country to compere small time comedy gigs is perhaps not the best way to be spending my time. Meanwhile, a meeting with a fellow comic who is also a film maker may lead to me writing my first film score for some years.

19/8/02
Well I got my first taste of performing at the world's largest Arts Festival in Edinburgh - in a small hot room reminiscent of the black hole of Calcutta. That combined with a serious attack of nerves (not something I usually have a problem with) and some unwarranted interference from the compere meant that I had my worst comedy gig yet - arguably my first actual death. A learning experience you might say! Its very hard not to let that bother you, but I have to bear in mind that every single comic that's ever worked has died at least once, it's a fact of life. Hurts though.

On a more positive note, my second Gidea Park gig was great - a big stage set up in the grounds of the magnificent Basildon Park and an audience of several thousand enjoyed our set in support of The Searchers - not a band I previously had thought of much, but you cant argue with classics like "Sweets for my Sweet" and "Sugar and Spice" - excellent stuff.

12/8/02
My Gidea Park debut came after hours of furious practice to the news that the hour and a quarter worth of songs I'd just about learned needed to be stretched into 2 hours due to a contracting cock up. Ooops. Somehow tho it went fabulously well and despite the nerves and a bad throat, I enjoyed it very much. The venue was a purpose built stage on a marina in Cowes - taking place in what I'm assured is the primo week on the yachting calendar. The view from the stage of the 5,000 strong audience with nothing else behind but the masts of the yachts in the marina was pretty spectacular and excitement levels in the audience were far greater than anything I ever thought likely for a covers band (at least for a covers band not comprised solely of 16 year old fledgling super-models).

Since then I enjoyed my first comedy gig in a month at the ever lovely Buzz club in Manchester which is also my last gig before heading to Edinburgh tomorrow for the semi finals of the Channel 4 "So You Think You're Funny" Competition. Slowly recovering from Saturday which was the 7th birthday of club night Atomic Jam - I found the music a little disappointing, but the Que Club venue is fantastic - shame some bastard's going to turn it into a hotel shortly!

6/8/02
Prague was excellent - once you get into the place, quite special. For me there aren't many individual buildings of particular excellence, its just that the whole city centre is so beautiful, you can just wonder round arm in arm with your loved one quite randomly and still be enchanted. The wedding went well - congrats to Jake and Jana and the marvellous Czech's with their many drinking songs. Well done Tim and Neil for getting really into the swing of things. Since then I've most been out of action with a bad cold, now amount of PCP seems to help. Despite which The Beach Bums played our first 1 ½ hour set to a small but polite audience in country backwater Flitwick, and I've been practicing furiously for my Gidea Park debut tomorrow.

24/7/02
Good news is that at the weekend it was officially announced that I am taking over as lead singer and keyboard player with Gidea Park - an excellent and long established Beach Boys and Four Seasons band who play all over the world and even have chart hits in their history. I expect being a member of Gidea Park to be a major part of my life in the long term, in fact given that I already sing with The Beach Bums, I'm very nearly a professional Beach Boy singer - funny old world. My first gig with Gidea Park is at Cowes Regatta on the Isle of Wight and the second in front of up to 5,000 people at an outdoor gig near Reading. Also, tomorrow Lyndall and I fly out to Prague for a long weekend to attend the wedding of my good friends Jake and Jana.

15/7/02
Plastic Heroes were even better than I expected - check em out if you want to see a top quality band in a Velvet Underground meets Iggy Pop meets Bowie with a french singer kind of a vein. On Thursday I became the first ever comic to perform at the first ever regular comedy show in the whole of Cornwall! Quite an honour and a lovely little club in the making, well worth the long train journey. Saturday involved a fairly epic night out that ran on into Sunday and involved my face being painted green (don't ask) fabulous post post-clubbing chill out in the hot sun was a rare treat in what I'm reliably informed is the wettest year for donkey's. Found out today I'm through to the semi-finals of the national Channel Four sponsored "So You Think You're Funny" comedy competition. Don't think I've an earthly chance of making the final, let alone winning it, but the semi's take place at the Edinburgh Festival which would be fun.

6/7/02
Journalism is going well at the moment, I'm now writing quite frequently on classical music as well as comedy which makes a nice change. Last couple of days have seen some Edinburgh preview shows I booked at mac - Andy Parsons at his entertaining best and Phil Nichol's new show "Things I like I lick" is a lovely blend of trademark manic comedy with some touchingly honest and surprisingly gentle storytelling. Rob Rouse and Andy Zaltzman take their turn tonight tho I will most likely be watching the band "Plastic Heroes" which feature superb singer/guitarist/songwriter Marc Olivier for whom I've played some keyboards in the past.

29/6/02
It turns out that this year (and from now on presumably) it really is impossible to get into Glastonbury without a ticket or guest pass. Oh, and there's lots of nice Scally types around trying to pick pockets and mug the unsuspecting. We'll definitely buy a ticket next year. We're now officially a one car family - all hail Captain Proton!

23/6/00
Been even busier than usual recently due to doing some broke-post-australia-office-temping which I've been somehow squeezing in around everything else. Last weekend we recorded an eipsode of a TV show called "Car Sharks" which is to be shown on Bravo in the Autumn. As team captain of the comedy team I lead a team comprised of occasionally willing fellow comedians (Mrs Barbara Nice being the inevitable star) and my lovely girlfriend Lyndall who did a great job (pictures of her in the cheerleader costume available on payment of appropriate fee).

The show involved driving around a 14 foot long 1984 Cadillac Eldorado which was quite a laugh, despite our inept ttempts to sell it for profit. The opposing team turned out to be none other than those purveyors of noisy post-punk pop and all round nice boys Baxxter. Bizarre as it may seem, they were actually better organised than us and won the game.

All that was of course overshadowed by seeing the great Brian Wilson live at Symphony Hall. Brian was on terrific form, laughing and smiling as he played over 40 of his best songs, receiving a standing ovation for every single number. Afterwards I got to meet the great man briefly (time enough to thrust a four track recording of me singing an a capella number into his hand) and also his very friendly and hugely talented backing band. Its not every day you get to meet your hero, and in my opinion, the greatest musician of the last century.

Meanwhile The Beach Bums performed their first gig in some time which went very well, I may be joining another band very soon - watch this space.

7/6/02
Australia was lovely thanks! Very relaxed and beautiful to look at, though the 5 days we spent in Malaysia swimming with sharks, jungle trekking, monkey watching and eagle spotting were even more memorable. Been working non-stop since our return. My entry into the Channel 4 sponsored stand up competition went quite well considering I'd just got back from holiday and interviewing a charming and friendly Brian Wilson over the phone was a great treat. Also interviewed the equally charming and chatty Phil Kay for The Metro - a nice way to celebrate the publication of my 100th newspaper article.

The GAG Club is done for the Summer, but having nearly 150 people along to see future comedy God Daniel Kitson was a great way to finish. We're rehearsing hard for a forthcoming Beach Bum gigs and I'm recording a lovely (and surprisingly difficult) a capella number called "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring" as a present for Brian Wilson whom I'll hopefully meet in person at his forthcoming gig. (He actually mentioned twice in our chat that he's looking forward to hearing my voice though it remains to be seen if he remembers that when we meet).

27/4/02
Much of the last few weeks has been spent preparing for a trip to Australia .. and I fly out tomorrow, wahey! My first holiday with my lovely girlfriend Lyndall and we fly half way round the world for nearly a month, still what's to be gained doing things by half? Lots to look forward to when I get back including seeing Brian Wilson again and maybe getting to interview him, recording an episode of a new TV show called "Car Sharks" appearing in my first ever comedy competition - the Channel Four Sponsored "So You Think You're Funny" and lots more. Good luck to The Greens in the local elections!

21/3/02
Oddly enough I had my first ever nightmare about performing stand up this morning - maybe I've made it as a performer!

20/3/02
This comedy lark seems to be going well - several pretty successful gigs recently despite various small set backs such as my first really pissed heckler and a gig cancelled because of an overly popular football match. In other news, my lovely girlfriend Lyndall celebrated her 29th birthday more or less non-stop for exactly one week and The Beach Bums seem to have finally settled on a line up and will be gigging soon. I can now play (badly) all the piano pieces required to pass a performing Diploma, but the fact that I've broken my hand is likely to hold up taking the exam for a while.

25/2/02
I performed last tuesday to around 200 happy punters at a great club in Manchester called XS Malarkey - probably the most enjoyable show to date in terms of being a great club, and my own performance. There's a review up on their site here (look under 19/2), which I've also reposted on the page about my act on the GAG Club site.

14/2/02
Crikey its been a long while since last update - that's being loved up for ya. Have performed several comedy gigs recently with, given that I'm still a new act by any reasonable reckoning, some success. There's a diary of my gigs over at www.gagclub.co.uk if you're keen to see me. The monthly GAG Club show at mac is also doing very well which is great, hopefully we've found a venue to stay in long term. Meanwhile we slowly move forward on recording and producing the first Ardilez track and The Beach Bums, despite setbacks are fast on their way to an hour long set. Steady if unspectacular progress all round.

5/1/02
Been a long time since last update, and in some ways not a lot's been going on. In last few days due to tonsilitis (at 32! Arse!) and the prior to that the usual Holiday partyin etc, plus spending lots of fabulously lazy time with my wonderful girl. Plans for this year (call em Resolutions if you must) include: performing more comedy (working up to having a half decent 20 by xmas); finishing the first Ardilez recording and spreading it as wide as possible; gaining a distinction in my long overdue piano diploma; and paying off that goddamn business loan. Did you know the HSBC charge you £27.50 if your monthly contribution to a charity takes you £5 over your overdraft limit? Nice! ps welcome to the Euro, lets hope we get onboard soon.

9/12/01
My first comedy gig in a while compering a student venue in London, which despite every chance of disaster went very well, and later that evening important plans were laid regarding the future of the British Amateur Winking Society of which I am proud to be a founder member. Fabulous weekend thank you Lentil, and an incredible Mark Thomas gig about the Ilisu dam proposals which was both funny and tremendously affecting. The GAG Club show in Selly Oak may well have been the last one since audiences haven't been huge, the mac gigs are going well and I'm a busy boy, but on the plus side the recording of Howard Mark's spoken section for the first Ardilez track went very well indeed.

28/11/01
The last two and a half weeks or so have been dominated by the tragic death of my good friend Jeremy Wickes. What exactly was troubling Wigg so greatly that he stepped in front of that train may never be known, there was clearly a part of him that he was unable to share with us. The part of him that he was able to share, was more than anyone could ever ask from a friend, and so I count it as an honour that I knew and loved him as much as I did. There were easily 150 people at that funeral, a tribute to the enormous esteem in which Wigg will always be held.

On the music front, friend and folk legend Howard Marks has kindly agreed to be involved in the recording and release of the first single from the Ardilez project, and although The Beach Bums will miss the charm and occasional punctuality of the lovely Chopper, we are proud to welcome into the fold Roger Nicholas, who as a long serving member of chart topping Beach Boys covers band Gidea Park, knows even more Beach Boys songs than I do.

4/11/01
A week of ups and downs, Baxxter were a thrilling live spectacle as always in their Radio One gig, The GAG Club show was very disappointing with all the students opting for a massive bonfire party instead of comedy. Dodgy game, promoting! Friday proved that three's company after all and I'd just like to enigmatically add "Big respect to the "Mushroom Freedom Fighters" and the promising new band "Fridge Magnet". News of a very exciting gig offer should hopefully be confirmed soon.

30/10/01
Enjoyed more of the Radio One shows in Birmingham. Parachute might not ever be trendy NME cover stars, but they have some really excellent songs and a highly charismatic front man, whilst Alaska are a nice bunch of guys who sound to me very much like a psychedelic Oasis, a description they'd probably hate, but which, oddly enough, I mean as a compliment. The nice Mr Blair's insistence on killing a great many mostly innocent people with our tax dollars is putting a strain on us all, music is a godsend at times like these. That said, the recording of "Completion" which is likely to be the first Ardilez track has been put back a bit due to an injury to superstar DJ Guy Carlos, but we'll get there soon, don't worry. Oh, and now I'm 32.

23/10/01
Got to interview the lovely Jenny Eclair this week which was much fun, as was performing an open spot in Altrincham of all places, which went very well indeed. The weekend began as early as Friday lunchtime with a lovely veggie meal - never realised I'd be so fond of a lentil, and the mushrooms i had on saturday were tasty. Much dancing, you've never danced until you've danced in the back room of a carpet warehouse. Just been listening to myself briefly on Radio One, which was nice.

15/10/01
This week, Dominic Frisby showcased his exceptional talents and a ridiculously funny new morris dancing character at The Comedy Kav and Greg Smith showed that he can match any surrealist stream of consciousness comic for hours on end, given the appropriate stimulants. Despite a heavy weekend, myself and James Cook performed at the very lovely Comedy Cavern in Bath and both did very well I thank you. On the music front, first meeting with DJ Carlos bodes very well for the future of Ardilez and my personal hero, perhaps the greatest musician of the last century, Brian Wilson announces his first ever solo shows in the UK. Fantastic..

9/10/01
Quietish week - Baxxter were magnificent live at the Jug of Ale on Wednesday, and the Beach Bums did their thing at a party on Saturday with guest guitarist Rog from Gidea Park and DJ Paul Cook. Spending far too much time thinking/worrying about world events, but not going to go into that here. The new Beach Bums site is now up and running, go see.

2/10/01
A busy but enjoyable few days. Thursday saw the fast improving Mike Tombs and Hal Cruttenden storm the Comedy Kav, Saturday saw myself and James Cook finding out that its not as easy to be spontaneously funny on the radio as we hoped (see forthcoming broadcast on Radio One) followed by a typically epic night out with one Steve Kelly and meeting an interesting girl called Alison. Lots of comedy going on this week, Ben Norris being the pick of the bill at our gig tonight at the mac.

25/9/01
A rather basic version of this site makes it back online after a long rest. Very busy working on the new season of GAG Club shows, as well as working on some music for the new Ardilez project. Last week was fun featuring a top evening out with Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace and a party from the excellent Fused Magazine. Should be spending sometime at the weekend with fellow funny Brummies James Cook and Andy (Mr Awards) Newsham recording a show for Radio One to be broadcast during the forthcoming Sound City Weekend. Should be fun!