Barnstaple, Chesham, short stories

At the weekend I had the pleasure of performing the solo show at Fringe TheatreFest - aka The Barnstaple Fringe. And it was actually a pleasure; I do a lot of fringe festivals and, like everything, some are better than others, but this one was probably my favourite. Obviously you can't compare it to the exhausting joy of Edinburgh with it's thousands of shows, but you wouldn't want to - this festival had 33 production companies (105 performances) over four days, with all of the venues close to each other. As a result, audiences found it easy to watch multiple shows without dashing too far; this coupled with excellent ticket offers (6 shows for £15 etc) and superb marketing from the team of volunteers and you've got yourself a winning festival here. The team behind the event are all so rigorously organised...from a performer's point of view it's an easy one; the venues were well equipped, well-staffed and, most importantly, suitable. I enjoyed three decent nights there, the solo show is really starting to gel now and the reviews (both from the press and audiences - who were invited to pin their reviews on the box office wall) were positive. I'd happily perform shows in Barnstaple every week.

In between performances 1 and 2 in Devon, I made the mad dash up to Chesham to play with the band at Bury Fields Festival. 8 hour roundtrip to play a 25 minute set at a festival? Yep. And it was worth it. Nice festival, packed, enthusiastic audience, and I got to meet/have a good chat with one of my comedy heroes - Mr Alex Horne, who was hosting. Cracking afternoon.

Drove just over a thousand miles this weekend in my tired little Ford Fiesta but I didn't feel tired myself; I felt energised by it all. Amazing what a good weekend can do for your self-esteem...

There seems to be more interest in my projects of late; filmmaker Karen Cann interviewed me and made a lovely video out of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28I_5Bb4y5I

And Hannah from Local Secrets magazine wrote this extensive article about my comedy/drumming stuff: http://mobile.localsecrets.com/ezine.cfm?ezineid=4410

In that article there was a mention of my very new project, All I've Got Is Awkward, which launches on 1st July and will see me release a short story a day for the whole month, all filmed and launched on Vimeo. It's a good way to keep writing, and I've now written all 31 of them, all brand new pieces, secretly quite happy with the way they've turned out. Just need to film them, which may take a bit longer than planned. I'm also editing The Paul Richards Disasters - our four episode sitcom, now all the filming has been done (the final scenes with Abi last week were really strong). I'm also writing a new filmed show (the footage of which has already been shot), and I should find out today if I'm writing a new stage show for somebody else which could possibly end up at the fringe this year (although it's cutting it fine) - more details on those soon. Ah yes, and the second series of Emily & Michael has been launched. Playing four gigs this week (3 with Fred's House, 1 with Claudia), with all this writing/editing I'm really glad I have drums to play.

I was typing last night, about 1am actually so technically the morning, when lots of steam oozed from my laptop. Theatrically this must have looked great - a nice image of a stressed writer and all that, but on a practical level it was a bit of a worry. I turned it off, and hoped I haven't lost all of this footage, words, ideas...to lose all of that really would be a Paul Richards Disaster.

Wales/Ludlow

Another reason why The World Cup is so great - especially with those late kick-offs, is because if you're driving back around 11pm from a show there's a match to listen to on Radio 5 and that helps keep you awake, and keep you safe/alive. Football is awesome. Glad we've cleared that up.

I'm currently watching Ghana vs USA on the telly, I should be sleeping. It was a busy weekend. Dinner around Heather's on Friday was lovely - great company, the five of us enjoying free-flowing banter and the fish was lovely. Feels like we're adults, these days. We don't do pubs anymore, we do dinner parties. I like it, but I just pity my friends when it's my turn to cook. On Saturday I drove down to deepest Wales, it isn't that far away at all - but it takes bloody ages because the roads are slow. Still, checked in to a nice little hotel, watched some football, did some writing, looked at my script a few times, and then eventually drove the short distance over to Mid-Wales Arts Centre. Really good night that one - it worked, more than it usually does. Huge thanks to Cathy for hosting and for making me feel so welcome, and for bringing an audience in too. It's a stunning and very alternative performance space, surrounded by beautiful farmland, but I enjoyed myself very much. Back to my hotel room in time to watch England lose.

The next day I drove down to Cheltenham to meet up with my mate Matt for Sunday lunch, a very welcome catch-up, and I even got him to be in the sitcom - we filmed his cameo appearance at a nearby bus stop. I'm nearly there now with The Paul Richards Disasters - just need to film the scenes with Abi on Thursday then it's all down to the editing, for which there shall be shit loads.

The drive from Cheltenham up to Ludlow was bumpy, and Ludlow itself is very confusing and I think I drove the wrong way down a one-way street more than once, not sure, nobody told me off but it's just one of those places. Eventually found the venue (Anita, the organiser, found me wondering the streets with a cajon in one hand and my CD player in the other). Ludlow Fringe has some really great names performing this year (Christian Reilly, Andrew Lawrence) so it was a pleasure to be involved. Not a huge turnout but they really, really tried for me and I appreciate that, and I still enjoyed doing the show - those who did make it seemed happy enough.

Drive home felt long, but the football (and also a Joe Jackson live album) kept me going. I arrived home exhausted and having made a slight loss...but not a huge loss out of this weekend. I know if I'm to continue doing this making a loss isn't the way to build a future, but we're talking £40 here. Considering the miles I've driven (hundreds) and hotel costs, that isn't so bad. If I wasn't doing this show I probably would have spent that money socially anyway, and somehow performing my show in front of new people, interesting, exciting, people, feels like a worthwhile way to spend my money, and my weekend.

Football!

The World Cup starts today, it's incredibly exciting. But I've done something I said I wouldn't do; I've gone and booked myself up for quite a lot of it. This goes beyond actually wanting to watch the matches themselves, football is therapeutic - when I watch the match I don't have the ability to multitask, I like to focus on it, shout at it, drink beer during it (okay, that's kind of multitasking). It stops me from doing other things but you know...that's not always a bad thing, it means I actually get to relax, a chance for my creative brain to recharge.

Anyway, first game tonight and I'm doing a warm-up show in a lounge, first England game on Saturday and I'll be in Wales doing the show...and so on, I'm very booked up at the moment. But let's be honest about this - I chose things to be this way. Projects are exciting and I keep taking on more, diaries are clashing but I'm dashing about and just about managing to get everything done (next weekend is a prime example of that - I have a 3 day residency with the solo show in Barnstaple, but slap bang in the middle of that I have a festival gig in High Wycombe...).

I've spent a lot of time writing recently; writing the second fringe show, writing dialogue for a series of short arty films for somebody else, writing 31 short stories for July (more on that soon), so it was great to be drumming again this weekend. Fred's House utterly stormed Strawberry Fair Festival, I was very proud and also thrilled to see so many good friends there (especially the legendary Julia, who has just returned from her world domination in Australia). On Monday and Tuesday I played two cracking gigs with Claudia McKenzie and her super-talented band, some really great Latin/Samba vibes in there alongside great songwriting. It's nice because for everyone in the project it's a 'second band' for us - we all have other musical commitments that take up more time so this is a no-pressure gig, just good musicians enjoying each other's company and it certainly shows on stage.

The filming of The Paul Richards Disasters continues, with Hind's sterling performance as the 'pretty but evil' Caroline, and I've also performed 2 more lounge shows (another one tonight) ahead of two big venue shows this weekend in Wales.

But back to the football. Last night, to promote our remarkably successful World Cup Track, Roy!, The Free Kicks (aka Griff, Chris, Josh and myself) took over a local radio station for an hour and hosted football-based banter. It was all very Baddiel/Skinner/Euro 96...in a good way, of course. And looking at the schedule of matches, a lot of games kick off at 11pm. Inconvenient for most, but perfect for working musicians/awkward accidental actors.

Terrible Love

Last night was really nice. In the band rehearsal for The Dowsing Sound Collective session we looked at a couple tunes we played at the first ever Dowsing show (back in January 2011...you know - that gig I'll constantly tell you was the best show of my life), Differente and Terrible Love. It reminded me once again just how beautiful that night was, and playing those two tracks - in the middle of what was a very productive rehearsal anyway - added a sense of rousing joy to the session.

Nobody does Terrible Love like Dowsing; okay, so I appreciate The National (who wrote it) are a bloody good band, but with those voices, and that arrangement...it's going to be spectacular, again. Do come to the shows in Bury St Edmunds next month if you can.

It got me thinking about just how great things actually are, and the special things that have been achieved over the last few years. It's great that projects evolve, but sometimes it's really healthy to take a step back and appreciate all the good things that have happened. It made me realise I'm working too fast at the moment with all the band and comedy stuff, it's fun having ideas and the opportunities to bring them to life in an instant, but actually I feel like a tourist being dragged through the sites, not stopping to take them in but merely ticking them off on a 'places I have seen' list.

This weekend I have four gigs, 2 lounge shows and a day of filming...when those are done, I'll take a little more time out to reminisce and I'll probably appreciate some of those moments even more.

It's been a good week; started rehearsals with Claudia McKenzie's band and it was remarkably good fun (her songs and musicians are exceptional - first gig with them next week), I've nailed the first draft script for the stage version of The Paul Richards Disasters and we filmed some scenes for the sitcom version. Now I'm trying to get back into the swing of Getting Lost In My Hometown, having not performed it for a month (performances start again this Sunday). It's all very exciting, I just hope when I look back on these days I will look at them with the same fondness as the glory days of 2011...

Health, studio, filming, charity

That was a ludicrous week, last week. I would very much like a quieter week, next week, please. Thanks. It started well enough; nice festival with Fred's House, nice birthday celebration with my closest friends, and filmed series 2 of Emily & Michael with Izzy. Not being arrogant; but this second season is a cracker - it's like we've really found our feet with it now, it's probably the final series as it's a limited concept but I'm really proud of what we've achieved here.

The rest of the week was a bit crappy though, due to family illness. It would be weird to go into details on here, but it was serious, so serious, more than anything we've experienced before as a family and I'm so incredibly grateful that my father somehow got through this. Recovery time now, for both him and the rest of us who have been more than a bit distressed by the whole situation.

After a tough few days, I needed to hit those drums of mine and luckily I had a recording session with the Dowsing band on Friday night. Great to be back at Zoo Audio, haven't been there for years but it's a superb little studio and the recording, all part of a project for Tour de France, sounds fantastic. It was a sweaty session, we worked hard, but sometimes you have to work for these things I can't wait for it to go public. The choir added their vocals today, we rehearsed with them beforehand and they're in fine voice.

Last night I was in Holywell for a charity event for Magpas. I agreed to organise and host this show a while back, but what with all the family health stress I was slightly underprepared (indeed I wrote the murder mystery part of it at 2am on the day of the show). As well as hosting, I was in the murder mystery, played percussion for Flaming June, Trevor Jones and Kat Thorpe, and performed my short story, 'Gary from the Squash Club' which is still a personal favourite. We had a few issues - lost a couple acts but got a couple more in, lost a pianist (but I replaced him simply by pressing the 'demo' button on my Casio keyboard, seemed to do the trick). The other acts - Izzy, Jessica, Alexis, Hannah, Anne-Marie were all fantastic, and then my landlord's band, Simply Wed played in the main bar and I got very drunk with my mate Andy. A good night, a chance to let off steam, I really enjoyed hosting it, can see myself doing more of this sort of thing in the future.

Today, after Dowsing rehearsals, I filmed my solo scenes for the new sitcom, The Paul Richards Disasters. Basically, just me in the house, going nuts. No idea what the neighbours think of me, but they're probably used to this by now. Next week I'm filming scenes with Hind, Izzy and Marcus, a week later I'll be doing the scenes with Kimberly (who is also joining me for the Edinburgh run of the stage version of this show) and George, and then just a couple bits with Abi and it's all sorted. I think it works, bit difficult to judge at this stage though.

I took some time out last week to look after the family, when I returned to the real world a couple days later it occurred to me just how manic things are at the moment, had a lot of catching up to do. The band have even had to get a dep drummer in (hhmmm) as I'm away a lot over the summer. Maybe things do need to calm down a little. Last week stressed me out more than I've ever been stressed before, but things are gradually falling back into place now; my father is slowly on the mend, I'm being kept on at the day job (as much as I'm sad to see some really good friends have to leave, such is the nature of this industry), just need to write the second Edinburgh show, and learn it, then I think it's time to sleep...for a couple days or so.