happy new year

Happy new year one and all.

This is an old picture of my parent's wedding cake.

And as if that wasn't enough:

I'm not here to make friends.

Secret Cinema

For the past 2 weeks I have been performing daily for secret cinema. The film this time was One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. I played a patient and had to break in to the nurses station and sing over the tannoy. I did Devil In Disguise and some of my own songs - kind of a singing along to scratchy records kinda thing. It was set in an abandoned hospital - freezing cold, but quite amazing.

For the last 3 days I slept there. It was interesting - I didn't know I could keep going for so long with no sleep - about 5 hours in 3 days. Everyone who stayed there was living on sugar, nicotine and caffeine. I've developed a terrible cough, but it was totally worth it.

a good show

Last night I went with Catherine to see a tapeclub show in North London. It was great. 3 people - each played 20 minutes as the front man while the others backed them up. Peter Lyons did 4 songs, and it was great. Cathy had never seen him play before except with me, so it was a special treat for her. At one point in the show, during a song called Regret, the band was rocking loudly and then it went quiet - upon which everyone heard a girl in the audience say "really sexy" and Pete wasn't able to sing the next verse because he was laughing. After the show I got Pete and Kerry to sign my copy of their new EP.
On the way home I was telling Cathy about a man who keeps trying to meet me for "coffee." I only want to drink coffee, and nothing else, but he wants the full coffee and pie experience. While I was telling her this, I noticed a man opposite me was shocked by me, and started laughing and telling his friend "that guy is gay." Then he was staring, and without actually saying any words to me, he managed to have a threatening presence. In retrospect, I should have feigned a similar reaction to his skin colour. An equally non-thing to be shocked by. Anyway, we reacted by talking about how we will go home and watch Pricilla Queen Of The Desert and swap clothes.
On the way home, Cathy told me how she finds Jim Carey attractive, and a man who was walking near us, possibly Italian, said that he thought she was crazy.
Then we got home and took lots of photos of us eating in bed.

Paris Paris Paris

Last weekend was the album launch in Paris. We arrived early, but they weren't expecting us so we went to a restaurant and ate lamb kebabs until the rain stopped. I saw all my friends again, which was strange as it's been so long.

During the show I cut my fingers open on my banjo because I dropped my pick. It was covered in blood by the end.

After the show the band decided to go in to town. I stayed behind to chat to people and sign albums. They came back after a short time, and Matt Prior, the bass player, had been pick pocketed and lost 250 pounds. That wasn't very nice. For the rest of the night he stayed in his bed while the rest of us got drunk on the free beer and requested songs from Peter Lyons, the other member of the band who plays everything.

The next day we headed home. It took almost twice as long to get back because I got lost. The road signs in France seem like they are there to annoy you - never telling which direction you are heading in.

Now my hand is healed.

New Album, New Site

Watching Japanese people eat, I notice they hold the plate and bring it under their mouths when they take a bite of food. Why do I balance food on a fork and risk dropping it/dripping it on to my shiny trousers?

The Optigan and Dulcitone are safely locked in a shed, gathering dust, sitting and waiting silently for me to come back while I sit on a bed 23 hours a day in a hospital ward.

I played a show with Thomas Truax in Soho the other day. It's the first time we've seen each other since he was leaving Paris and I got caught by the police at the metro station for not paying. I ran, and he carried on in the other direction because he had to get a flight. One of the more embarrassing moments I've experienced. It was good to see him play again because his show has really changed and he has a new instrument called The Scary Ariel. I took my pump organ.

germany

I spent the weekend in Cologne for some concerts. I did 9 concerts in one day, and I got all burned up by the sun. I stayed with Eric Schneider, who owns the instruments listed on miniorgan.com - so I got to see it all and play with it.

We went to a flea market and I bought a tamborine.

I tried German food - some kind of meatball soup, which just turned out to be a big ball in water. But it was tasty.

Germany in general seems to be very organised... far more so than any other country I've visited... very efficient...

Tomorrow I will go to the west of France to play in Saintes. I've never been there, so it will be interesting.

My new website is coming soon, along with my album and some new videos.

pff

I'm really not good at updating this blog, which is weird considering how much time I spend online and how much I talk about myself.

Alice is nearly over. It's been really fun overall - constantly changing in subtle ways. The last time we did it I actually went up on stage and did a little dance at one point, but I don't think I'll be doing it again.

My album is definitely going to be released in September. I really thought it was finished, but since then I've rerecorded an entire song and added lots of little details - the things only I notice that make me feel clever.

I am making 3 videos for the album - All Around Town, Songs About Snow and You And The Stars. I'm very excited about having nice looking videos.

The other day I went to a restaurant and on the menu was duck with mushroom ice cream. I had the steak.

goodness

I am so terrible for updating things like this...

Alice is going very very well. We've had good numbers and the CD is selling well. We put a book outside of the theatre for people to write comments and so far everything has been very kind. Normally I use those books to make the actors feel paranoid by writing things like "i didn't like the little guy."

We are playing every day this week.

alice 4

I forgot the sea again... and we had less people at this one... poopy.

toy piano

Tonight was the final practice for the 30 piece toy piano orchestra. Still I haven't heard it with all the musicians (tonight we had 15 or 16) but it sounded much tighter than usual and so I'm more confident than I was last night.

It seems the mor I sweat, the better it is...

we'll see on Friday.

Alice the 3rd, La Bellevilloise

Goodness gracious me. Last night we did the third show of Alice. We played to a full house, so that was nice. It was a little different to the first 2 shows. This time I didn't miss any cues except for the fucking sea sound effect, which continued in to the trial. Wednesday it will be better.

I had a shave before the show, because after we did photos.

After Alice I had my show at La Bellevilloise. My friend Diego played before me, and I really enjoyed his guitar playing. He's such a lovely man. I got quite annoyed again during my set and finished early, and I asked the audience why they never listen to me, and do they find me boring or what? It's such a hard place to play, and really I have never had a good show there. I'd go so far as to say I hate it.

Today was another busy day. First we had a toy piano practice with 20 of the players. I think it is going very well now and has really taken form. I'm quite confident about it. All the pieces are ready except for the piece with 5 pianos, which we will organise soon.

Then after that we had the second show of Alice. Today was less good than the first I think. A little slow, and the audience was less reactive. Perhaps the timing was off. Anyway, I only really missed one small cue which wasn't a problem. After the show a few of us went to a gay bar in Chatelet and drank red wine and ate small slices of pizza. It was very chic and very cheap...

I went home and fell asleep in my clothes.

ALICE AND TOY PIANOS

Well, today was the premier of Alice.

I've had a tooth ache for a few days, so getting there was hard. I haven't slept well because of the tooth, so everything has been difficult. But anyway, after an annoyingly crowded metro journey, I arrived at the theatre and waited for about 2 hours to set up and play.

The show went well. I missed a couple of cues. I'm using my clockwork metronome to make the noise of a lock, but today it was fully wound, so those sounds were totally missing.

The kids made me laugh because they said a few times "coupe la tete" which means "cut the head." This is a line from the play, but one kid kept saying it.

My sampler was broken today. I had no left channel. But after opening it and dabbing some solder inside, it works again.

The last few nights have been spent desperately trying to finish the Alice CD. It was a rush, but it was finished in time, and I'm really happy with it. The guy who made the posters also made the packaging for the CD, and it looks so great.

Apart from Alice, I have been composing for a concert with 30 toy pianos. It is my job to compose and to be the "chef d'orchestre." We will play this on the 12th February. We're doing 3 pieces that I've composed and one cover that I've arranged especially. It's quite amazing to hear lots of toy pianos at the same time, even though so far we have only practiced with about 10 or so. I'm not sure how 30 will sound... amazing I hope.

We're playing before Margaret Lang Tan. She was a student of John Cage, who wrote a famous suite for toy piano. So it's going to be quite strange. It's the orchestra, then me solo, then her. I hope I will get to meet her and talk about her experiences. Perhaps I will invite her to have a drink with me.