A very satisfying weekend

After treating my car to two new headlights on Saturday morning, the weekend was creatively an inspiring one. BBC 6Music very kindly played 'Office Party' from our Christmas album, which was very lovely of them - it was played on the Collins & Herring show, both of whom are legends (I've been a huge fan of Richard Herring for a long time). Then it was a long old rehearsal with the full cast of the Christmas show - the initial fun stage is now typically put aside for the hard work, with the fun to follow again once the guys are all confident with their lines, but it's taking good shape. In the evening I finally got around to writing the Christmas radio script - writing it a day before recording is a bit tight, even by my own standards, but by 1am I had the half an hour piece nailed and went to sleep in a good mood. At 10am we were all in Martin's new studio to record the thing - Martin himself took a good acting role, alongside Juliette and Heather in the leads, and I really feel 'The Christmas/Collar Incident' is a nice play actually, if I may say so myself. It's a lively piece, aimed at younger children, but with some nicer cameo roles - especially 'Jeremy The Evil Greyhound'. The recording was nailed in three swift hours, and is now in the editing process, before being broadcast on Cambridge City Radio at 3pm on Christmas Day. I'm relieved I managed to write it in time - it's my last creative deadline of the year, and one which looked difficult for a while, but it's worked out well. After that I dashed over to Cottenham to start rehearsals with Dousing For Sound - an incredible new music project, which will culminate in a big show at the end of January 2011. The project itself features wild interpretations of relatively obscure songs (ending on a rousing version of 'One Day Like This' by Elbow), performed with an eclectic line-up...and a 40-piece choir. The choir have been rehearsing separately, but it was great to finally meet the band today having been on the books for this project for a short while now. The rehearsal itself was inspiring, an unprecedented level of musicianship on display, and I felt incredibly challenged by the music as it changed from light bongo work to full on drum kit tango grooves, it was incredible and I for one am very much looking forward to the fairly intense rehearsals in January because this could be absolutely amazing. Next year itself is already looking a bit manic, with offers for session drum work for more albums coming in, lots of gigs, an opportunity to write for youth theatre, talk of one of my plays potentially heading to the Leicester Comedy Festival, and the further development of the whole Awkward Christmas project with Helen. For the rest of this year though I suddenly feel stress-free, there's lots of gigs left to be played, there's much Christmas partying with friends in the diary, it's going to be a messy, but enjoyable three weeks or so...