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Times of Respect

Nope, still no new website, this shit takes time, like wiriting and I'm my own out here, faced with my own limitations, so it's limiting. Reagardless, at some point, when I get my arse in gear, or seek help and be able to pay for it,  it will all be updated, in the meantime, here's some new stuff. I wrote this for Inua Ellmas RAP Party, at the Cheltinum Literaturte Festival back on Friday 13th October. Have a listen, I've stuck the words up this time. 

Times of Respect

Fade to the background, a mid-nineties dinner time at my house, chips, beans and whatever else had the date about to go out. Dad’s holding court as my siblings talk, school, tv, news and sport, but it’s music on which my family muses and when it comes to music my dad is mastermind sure. My siblings, all older, are squabbling about the Trainspotting film score and arguing whether Underworld are underground anymore. Like cars in rush-hour traffic, words fly back and forth. Poking food with my fork, I’m scanning the traffic reports, waiting for a safe spot in the onslaught, to step out, find my lane, set a course and for once, air my thoughts, a high-risk manoeuvre with scars from before, but I muse on music too, it’s what I live for.

Inside my skull, ideas and opinions bounce around like lottery balls eager to be drawn, chances of hitting that winning combination are slim, hopes light is light is dim, but my focus ‘aint on the final score. 

The conversation moves, Dad continues to observe whilst he chews his food. My oldest brother turns to the next one down

‘Have you heard of Guru? Listen to Gang-Starr mate, that Code of the Streets tune, wicked lyrics.’

A red light in my brain goes PING. I’m in. Little does he know, but I’ve been listening to that tune in their room, sneaking in to their bedroom whilst they worked their work shifts. I know those lyrics, I know that beat, I know those infectious strings and I know that’s DJ Premier scratching in-between, I may be thirteen, but I know some things! It’s the code of the streets, it’s my time to speak.

The lottery-balls pinging around my brain get selected for the big departure, sending my mind into rapture, each thought and idea a golden grain of sand, could build castles with my hands, dominate the table with my Hip Hop knowledge, impress my siblings, maybe even my dad! Yet, as each idea excitedly makes their way, out of my brain, like kiddies riding waterslides down the neural pathways, they meet with the saliva glands and sand, turns to cement, starting to set, bottleneck sludge-fest in my throat, when the words finally get the green light to go, beyond the pink of the lips, ears of my siblings pricked, it all just, flops-out into the traffic flow, in one messy lump of spam-congealed-audio.

‘he’sermtalkingaboutdrugdealingandkidsbeingharrasedbythepolice’

‘speak up boy, you’re mumbling’

‘Guru, dad, that song, Code of the Streets, he’s erm talking, about drug dealing and kids being harassed by the police.’

‘How do you know about this?!’ Dad barks

My oldest brother interjects; ‘Wait a minute, have you been going into my room listening to my records?!’

Dad ‘He got this from you?!’

And the arguing continues, I stare at my food, as dad lectures my siblings on what’s appropriate for a thirteen-year-old. Funny thing is, mastermind and all, dad don’t even know about those tunes, he doesn’t know Hip Hop, Jungle or Garage, he ‘aint got a clue.

Inside my skull the lottery balls have stopped pinging around, dropped mid-air to the ground as if someone’s pulled the plug out. I’ll make sure I take care next time I step out, I’m ok for now, remain safe inside my head, and besides, I got Guru looping round, It’s the Code of the Streets, and I fade to the background. 

Paul Cree, October 2017

 

Radio Silence

Hello. At some point, hopefully soon, I will have a new website, hence not posting on here much. Gerting it all togethor is hard work mate, I'm doing it all myself, but it's coming soon. If you want to hear about what I'm doing, twitter is probably best @paulcree or facebook.com/paulcreewrites

New Year and that

Yo. Happy New Year. Hope it was and is happy. I was out of the country for the first time in my life. (I've been abroad before, not a lot mind but just not over Christmas and New Year). It was pretty nuts. I was in Goa, India. I'd never left Europe, was there for a wedding, watching how they get down over. Had a pretty banging time to be fair, put on a bit of weight round the belly, even got a very mild sun tan on my forearms, imagine that. Anyway, this aint some travel blog, mainly because I don't really travel, unless you include up and down the northern line. However, me and man like Gary From Leeds would this year like to travel a bit round the UK (and anywhere else) if poss and perform our respective Edinburgh shows, Garibaldi and The C/D Borderline, get in touch if you're in any way interested, we've made a little tour package and everything, cann fill you in.

So, it's a new year. Got a few irons in the fire, gonna be doing some Beats and Elements work this year, two new projects, another audio and theatre project I've collaborated on called Robinson, with a writer called Christina Lei and plus all the usual gigs and stuff. Last year was a good year for me, let's hope that continues.

Here's  a little vid from a Sofar Sounds gig I did back in October (I think) which came out towards the end of last year, I dropped this at a gig on Saturday called Dear Diary by a great comidan called Helen Black, at the very nice Canvass Cafe in Brickane. It was the first gig of the year and was really good fun. people read exerts from their teenage diaries so it was quite entertaining.

So the Prince of Penge himself, Peter Hayhoe and his Muddy Feet film crew dropped a new video yesterday of me doing the Lost Days Lost poem. It was filmed back last December for the BoxedIn Christmas special, it was a mental night. I got very drunk, I was on stage quite early on but most likley well on my way to Lager oblivion by that point. Probably why I look so mash-up in the You Tube thumbnail, fitting, being that the subject of the story is about getting cained with my mates back in the day. Don't normally get that smashed but it was Christmas so I was getting into the spirit of things. Well, the spirit being an excuse to just get smashed, smashed under the banner of Christmas Spirit, sounds like something from the Soviet-era eh. Anyway, enjoy. If you lke, be sure to check the Muddy Feet page, they've been banging out all the these poetry videos every tuesday and there's some real crackers on there. Also check out BoxedIn, they run a regualr free open mike at the Boxpark in Shorditch and have another Christmas special  where the hosts themselvs are gonna step up for feature slots and they're very good.Get involved mate.

Appearence on Croydon Radio 23.10.16

Last Sunday I was back on the airwaves with those nice people at Poets Anonymous for their Croydon Radio Show, in the new surroundings of Airport House on the Purley Way, London's original airport. I always have a good laugh when I'm on there, big up Ted and Peter. Guesting on the show with me was Polish Poet Gregory Spis. Have a listen and download the full show HERE;
 

Gregory Spis and me in the Croydon Radio studio

Gregory Spis reading his poems on the air

THE BEDSIT IS BACK, TOMORROW!

BOSH

TALES FROM A BEDSIT IS BACK

18.10.10
9.30 P.M

@CANAL CAFE THEATRE 

TICKETS
http://tellitfestival.com/events/2016/10/18/paul-cree-tales-from-a-bedsit

"The best spoken-word show I've seen"
Sabotage Times

Roll The Bass: A Walking audio tour

Back in October last year, an app company called Voice Map approached me about creating a walking audio tour in London. I said yes. They make walking audio tours in cities all around the world. It's very smart, all you need do is download the app, then pick your story,downlaod the audio then plug in your headphones and go and take the tour.

Almost 1 year later, here it is: Roll The Bass a part story / part walking tour around central London which tells about the time I first visited the legendary End nightclub, off Totenham Court Rd, whilst taking in some of the old venues and other places of significance. It features tracks produced by my brother Will.Scott Cree

One of the reasons I wrote it was, well, one I was asked to, but two, it bothers me that in London, the home of Jungle and Drum and Bass, there is next to nothing to mark this. This music has spread globally and there are scenes all over the world, yet, walk around Lonodn and you would never know. Guess it's not the Shakespere or lawn tennis. It's a shame, as it seems to be coupled with the loss of so many venues and record shops, most recently of course, being Fabric. The End was a banging club, special to me and many others. I don't get out to many clubs these days but doing this again has got me back enjoying all that again, have even MCed a couple of times since,

It was a big challenge writing this tour, as I had to plan out the walk, calculate the route and the steps, walk it several times and for each chapter I had word limits based on steps which I had to stick to and it wasn't easy, also having to direct people and making sure those directions were clear. There was a lot of going back and forth, and then re-writing and re-recording but at long last, here it is. It's £4.99, get involved, have a listen to a story and you may even learn a thing or two. Nice one

https://voicemap.me/tour/london/roll-the-bass

 

Count Up To Edinburgh #9 Mission Complete

During the Edinburgh festival, if someone were to circulate a false rumour that so and so big bollox TV executive / stage producer was holding open auditions a mile out into the shark and sewage infested sea, beyond Leith docks, a hyper-enthusiastic undulating throng of merry actors, comedians, poets, magicians, clowns, knife-throwers and jugglers would saunter en-masse (armed with flyers), down to the murky waters only to perish to certain death; disappearing in floating pools of blood and sludge and flyers with review quotes stapled to them. For years after, passers by along Leith Port would hear distant murmurs of 'free comedy' and '4 star review' haunting the docks. Let's have it right, I'd probably be one of them mugs, though I'm sure I would have got half way there, seen all the people heading in the same direction, cussed them off for being more organised than  me and then abandoned all hope and sulked off to one of them late night takeaways that sell chips in curry sauce; either that or I'd turn up on the wrong day or something. In short. Edinburgh is like an extreme form of Monopoly, only difference is, it can seem, depending on what kind of day you've had, that everyone starts off with more dough and know-how than you.

Mate. Edinburgh was nuts. I knew it would be nuts. Knowing it would be nuts didn't make it any less nuts, it was still nuts. But all in all, a good nuts. To do it, and to want to do it, then want to go back and do it again, you do have to be at least slightly nuts. It just helps (a lot) if you've got the sort of dough behind you that would see you drinking in the sort of pubs that sell 10 different varieties of flavoured nuts (which come in jam jars) as a poncy alternative to crisps (which in itself is nuts because crisps are banging, all crisps, even Space Invaders.)

I pretty much had 3 objectives going up there, well, 4 actually.

1: To book, organise and get a show up there then put it on every day. (This stuff does not come easy to me)

2: Get my face in front of some new people, outside of London and from hopefully as many different places as possible (though half of the people at the Fringe are probably from London)

3: Get a couple of reviews.

4: Have a laugh (though this one was more of a given)

I'm happy to say that I achieved all of those objectives. The outcomes could have been better but also could have been a lot of worse. Could of improved in all of those above areas, particularly in my preparation; prior to this I'd never sent out a press release before let alone written one. Probably could have used my time up there more efficiently as well, flyering other events etc but all in all, I was pleased.

Me at the Pilgrim. That curtain behind me was at times the only thing between me and a bar full of noisy boozers. My audience was in front of me, presumably all looking at my Millwall tie thinking 'I swear that was from the 96-97 season range, great year for the club shop that was."

This was taken form the last show which to my surprise was packed. Dominic Berry took this, one of the many people who I met up there who I really enjoyed spending time with. There was a lady just out of shot, who just before the show started whacked my arse while I was bending over setting up. I told her it wasn't that sort of show.

The first week was very up and down and despite having a good audience for my first 2 shows it really dropped off and I was struggling a bit. Walking around the city, already sodden and cold, seeing all the massive hoardings and billboards advertising really banal looking shows, most of which had some quirky face on, with each one seemingly telling me, 'you can't afford this, go home, you small time mug.' Sounds a bit melodramatic but at times that's how I felt. Some of these people that take shows up there, must be able to write off £10K or some other ludicrous amount and it not be a problem. For many people though,  it must break the bank. Everything up there costs and it's very difficult if you don't have a lot of money. High venue costs. High accommodation costs. Massive billboard posters. PR Companies. It's a lot. Thank God then for The Free Fringe and the ethos with which is stands for, which meant I didn't pay for hiring the venue I performed in, which is a massive cost. Simple really. We don't pay to hire the venue, audience don't pay to come in, venue takes the bar. It can work. The Pilgrim, where I was based, did really well, smashing all their targets. All in all I spent about £1500 squid, not even a fraction of what some of these shows must have cost. It also helped that all the other guys in my venue we're really helpful and pitched in with flyering, and regular pick-me-up support etc. Made The Pilgrim a decent place to work at. Large up Soundman Davey Jones, Gecko (best flyer-er in the game mate!) Jake Wildhall, Joel Autterson and all the Boomerang Club crew, Harry Baker and Chris, Robert Garnham, Dave and Byron and of course all of the Pilgrim staff who were all really supportive.

The Pilgrim Boys: L-R Joel, Harry, Gecko, Jake. At back, Harry and me outside The Pilgrim Bar, Edinburgh

Second week picked up and I got a lot better at flyering and generally pulling people in etc. All the additional gigs helped too, Boomerang, Stand Up and Slam, Raise The Bar, Prepare To Fail, all of which helped. Felt like I got a into a good swing with it and the audiences were good to, generally really responsive. My mate Gary From Leeds said to me before we went up that things would start slow then pick up, and he was right. He was right about most things up there, though I did manage to persuade him that chips in curry sauce was better than chips in gravy, eventually he came round. Had a reviewer come in from Broadway Baby who gave me a decent 4 star review which I was chuffed about. Have a butchers here

Also somewhere in the second week I had a nice chat about it all with Paul McMenemy from Lunar Poetry. As always, I talked to much. I'd just done a show so my voice was a bit raspy. It was fun though. Have a listen HERE

The last week was wicked. Audicnes were good and I felt like I knew what I was doing by this point. There was bit of a dip on one or two days but from what I'd heard this was felt throughout the festival. Couple of people said to me that in general numbers were down on previous years, something to do with The Olympics or Great British Bake Off or some other nonsense. I really enjoyed the chats I got to have most days, out and about on the streets, with other performers, punters etc. Big up Bob Walshy Walsh, who I had a good chinwag with most days about all things football and South London. When out flyering, it's a bit like a melty version of The Wire, on the street, all hand signals and that, comminicating to the other flyerers, working out the punters movements and who's likley to want to take a flyer. It was thoughts like that which kept me amused on the slow days. But yea, in the end it all went well. The last show was by far the biggest and most generous audience I'd had and it was great to go out on a banger. Had another decent review from a young reviewer too by the name of Ben Huxley, have a butcher's here (though both Dominic Berry and I had a bit of giggle about the unlikely comparison.) Though I got to perform to many people, I was chuffed that on most days there was someone I knew in the audaince, a lot who took me by surprise. I had a lot of freinds and family who came all the way up. Conrad, Fez and Junior came twice! Mum, Dad and Nat flew up just for the day. Met some really great people to, some who also came twice, like this really nice family from Cambridge, two of which were teachers. Had a lot of teachers. Big up Riko and family too. Thankyou, all of you, even the one or two rude ones who did'nt pay any attention and were talking or playing on their phones thoughout. Don't undertsand why you do that when you can just get up leave, it's Free Fringe innit, but still, you interest and annoy me in equal measure.

Special mention must go to all the residents of Poetry House. My flatmates for the duration of the festival. Had a great time staying with these guys, all the nonsense chats in the kitchen and the many pick-me-ups along the way. Fay Roberts (got to do the best / worst / weirdest gig with Fay), Dominic Berry,(ahhhhhhhhhhh football-style audaince support) Alexander Rhodes, Hannah Chutzpah all the various poets and mates of mates who came up and stayed, and of course my roomate, Gary From Leeds. Legend mate. Helped me all the way back from last year, to get my arse up there and pull it off. In that tiny cabin room that stank of damp towles, we had a good laugh, through the good times and the bad. Highlight of the Fringe for me was when Gary rescused a component from my beard trimmer from off of the roof, using gaffter tape, a brolly, a broom and sheer MacGyver like skills.

So yea, all in all, I had a wonderful time, high and lows, old friends, euphoira and sadness, new friends and a lot of laughs. Would I do it all again? Probably. Yes. Dunno...ask me in 6 months mate.

Paper Tiger Poetry This Friday, 16th at Teahouse Vauxhall

Yeas mate. Got some new shorter poems I've been working on. It's been a while, what with working on the longer shows etc. This Friday I'm gonna drop a few of them at Paper Tiger Poetry, at the Tea House Theatre in Vauxhall. this gig will be like going back to 2007 for me mate. Banging out the short sets. That's a good thing. I've not been to this gig before so I'm excited. There's quite a few features on the bill including man like Jake Wild-Hall, who was one of the Pilgrim boys up in Edinburgh this summer, he's a top bloke, spent a lot of time with him up there. He was doing the Boomerang club show, they runs a regular gig out in Hammersmith, hold tight Joel. My mate Gary From Leeds says the venue is pretty banging, well not banging, he's northern, he'd say 'mint' or something, or 'summat' morelike. So what's not to like. And the very next morning, I've gotta get up at the crack to go and take part in one of these Tough Muddah events. Fuck knows why. I'm up for it though. All of it.Let's 'ave it.

Creatine live at Sofar Sounds

Hello! So this is the first post up here since Edinburgh but it's not an Edinburgh post. That will come, soon, possibly this weekend. I'm still unwinding from all that....

Anyway. Back in July sometime, on a nice Sunday afternoon, I was getting ready to run through the material for the Edinburgh show when I got a call, from a mate, who's mate had rung him, as their mate had pulled out of a Sofar Sounds gig and they needed someone, within about 2 hours. I answered the call and bowled up to some warehououse in Manor House and did this gig. They filmed it. Here it is. Enjoy it. I did.

Count Up To Edinburgh #8 I can count the days on my right hand now

So in one weeks time I'll be up there. Bonkers mate! Been building up to this all year but it's now suddenly come round very fast. Bit of a cliche but it's true. Mind you, the last month has been mental, I've not had a great deal of time to think about it really. In the last two weeks I've finished my school job for the summer, finished a 2 month youth project with Lyrix Organix, called Kingston Roots and just completed a 2 week musical theatre residency at Stratford Theatre Royal with Conrad Murray. And oh yea, I've moved out of my house as well. Not the most ideal of preparation but I'm alright none the less. Could do with a fat kip though. You know, one of those massive 16 hour ones that proper recharge you, waking up in a light and airy room with cotton drape curatins gently flapping in the summer breeze, with a load of Andrex puppies rolling round in carzy roll. I'm rooming with Gary From Leeds up in Edinburgh, I might ask him if he wants to stand in for the Andrex Puppies.

Look at that mug with his Edinburgh show

 It dawned on me this morning whilst brushing my teeth that this is all now happening next week, it's actually happening. I'm about to go and do 25 shows plus extra gigs, as well as having to go out there and get the punters in every day, which in itself is quite daunting. Of course, I knew all of this when I signed up and I'm making it sound like I'm about to go to war or something. I'm going to do a show in a pub / bar..I like performing, why the worry? I don't have the answer to that question. My reactions are probably way over the top but it's still a big deal for me. I'm sure I'll look all at this in a few months time and laugh, whilst thinking what a nob. There's a whole bunch of people I know who are going up there and I'm sure it'l be a laugh. It'l no doubt be a slog at points but that's all part and parcel. No pain no gain and all that. By sticking the show on, I wanted to see if I could actually do it and I'm doing it. Putting my money where my mouth is. Not that I have much money, but my mouth is reasonably sised, so in case I grt a massive windfall, I'll be alright. Anyway, I wasn't doing anything else this summer, so why not?

What?! He's got his mug on the back as well?!

I had a day this week with director Stef O'Driscoll, who I worked with on A Tale From The Bedsit. Stef is now really making a name for herself out there, I think there's 3 shows in Edinburgh this year alone that she's directed, don't quote me on that, she might have been telling me about shows in devlopment. Either way, she's smashing it, so I was lucky to get a day with her. I like to think working with me back on the Bedsit show launched into her new found director stardom, but I can't say that's true, though we did drink a lot of tea and had a good laugh whilst making it, so it was great to get back in the room with her again. She helped me tighten up all the pieces and add what I hope are now the finishing touches. I just have to record one more piece of audio then the thing there is done. I've also managed to recruit a tech to do my sound this week as well, seems like a cool guy and I hope we work well together.  I hope he doesn't like lager as much as I do, then we might have a problem.


So yes, I am now days away from starting. Gonna do a few more of these blogs whilst I'm up there. But if you are up there, I'm at the Pilgrim, everyday except the 16th, 4:15. Just look at the flyer, it's all on there. By the way, flyers are great aren't they.. They were designed by Natlie Clay check her stuff out www.styloclay.com. Peas and taters

Count Up To Edinburgh #7 It's getting closer...

Yea, not long now. So this last two weeks I've had some sort of headcold / flu / hay fever / avian influenza which has limited my output a bit. Really annoying, can't seem to shake it either, but I'm treating it like an Edinburgh lurgy preview as it's likely I'll get run down up there, they say most people do. The early performances have been improving, my knowledge of paracetamol based products is now a lot better than it was.

Speaking of previews, was in Guilford this Monday just gone for Keystone Poetry. It's a regular Poetry night run by Donnal Depmsey and the now Janice Dempsey. (They've very recently got married are now officially the Jay-Z and Beyonce of the poetry game.) Back in January they offered me the chance to do a preview of C/D Borderline. They rreally are lovly people and have always been supportive of me All in all, it went really well and was a good test of the material. I couldn't get any of the audio to work so all I had was the stories themselves, so I had to riff a bit between them but it was all ok. There's a nice review of it here

 

 As I've wrote in previous Edinburgh blogs, one of the aims of going up this year was seeing If I can actually pull it off, meaning organise what I need to do. This can be anything from sorting out a tech operator, to getting flyers designed and printed. So in these last few weeks I've managed to get a flyer designed (I used www.styloclay.com highly recommended!) and I've written a press release. Yea, a press release. Imagine that. Felt like a right nob writing it, it's worse than writing bio's, it's like I had to channel the inner-bellend within and become the worlds worst used car salesman, estate agent and investment banker all rolled into one, some proper mega-prick, all in the hope some journous might, just might come and review the show. Need  to check my soul into rehab after writing that. The alternative of course is to hire a PR firm but that's about £2000. You get the picture. As soon as I work out how to convert a PDF to JPEG then I'll stick the flyer up, maybe not the press release though yea.Hold tight Gary From Leeds (again) and Rosie Knight for helping me out though.

I've managed to sort my travel this weekend. Knew it was going to be expensive so I took the hit, weren't quite as bad as I was expecting tough but still a lot of dough. I'm gonna fly up there on the 5th (it was cheaper than the train, silly isn't it? Hold tight Jeremy Corbyn), which is nice as it's from Gatwick so I'll probably go back to the manor and see my parents before I go. Coming back on the 28th on the train with Gary From Leeds, who knows what state we'll be in. Either way, it's coming up fast now but I'm just about moving in the right direction. Lots more to do but I'm getting there...

Nitrobeat Bites @Soho Theatre

So tomorrow night at Soho Theatre, as part of  NitroBEAT Bites a story I've written is being put into a short 10 minute theatre scratch and being directed by Benji Reid, who's a bit of a legend in the theatre game. It's pretty nuts, I once wrote a monolouge for a play many years ago, but apart from that, this is the first time something I've written is being staged, by someone else, and with some actors! Mate, but yea, should be a laugh though. There are 7 writers on the night whos work is being staged, including Amy Ng, Caleb Femi, Femi Martin, Segun Lee French, Titilola Dawudu. The evening is being hosted by comedian Athena Kuglenu and, yes and, there is a live DJ, Psykhomantus. Details on the flyer, still a few tickets left HERE

 

Some things I've been up to of late

1: I did a nice rap battle

 

Got asked to do this a few weeks back, what with the show, work and everything else I almost said no, but I rarely say no to anything, so I didn't say no, instead, I said, yes. 

Now, I'm a fan of battle rap, I've been watching it regularly since The Jump Off days of Professor Green and Stig Of The Dump and have followed that evolution of it into Don't Flop and all of the other leagues that have sprung up around it. I'm no stranger to rapping but battling? Mate. I'd be lying if I said I haven't ever thought about it and when they told me I'd be facing Bru-C in a compliments battle, I was a bit nervous to be honest, he's really good and I' seen him battle many times, as well as hearing a lot of his music, which is decent by the way. However, by the time I stepped up onto the stage, I'd gone from being very nervous to just wanting to do it. And I did it. And I'm glad I did it. I messed up my last round (which thankfully insn't on there above video) which I was annoyed about it but overall I was pleased with how it went. I'd go as far as to say I loved it. The event was great. All the battes were brilliant. It was packed, the crowd were really into it and I really enjoyed being on that stage, it was a different experience for me and one that I'll remember, I didn't sleep much that night and was still buzzing about it the next day.

Super last minute gig at BoxedIn

 

'Tis was the Tuesday before the big show at Roundhouse, myself and Talia Randal were due to lead a workshop in Surbiton as part of the Kingston Roots project, but alas, Talia was struck down with illness! Panicking we were, until out of the shadows and fresh off his Until You Hear That Bell tour stepped Sean Mahoney, who did a fantastic job, saving the day. By chance, Sean's regular gig as co-host of well known peotry night, BoxedIn, happened to be the same evening, and alas, their mighty headliner, Simon Mole had also been struck down with illness! So Sean offered me the chance to step in and do a slot straight after the workshop, "yes" I said, "we shall do this!" Ran we did, to Surbiton train station, to Waterloo, then down into the underground for The Waterloo and City Line (which neither me or Sean had ever been on?!), riding it over to Bank, where we seemed to get stuck behind a gate trying to get to the circle line. Bursting out of Liverpool St we then ran to Boxpark for Sean to immediately take the mike, sweating out of breath. 5Five minutes later I was on stage, I did my little bit and low and behold, it was filmed by these wonderful people called BlaSphMe TV. I had a great night, Talia and Simon made a full recovery, Sean is still hosting BoxedIn and as for the rest of the world, they all lived happily ever after. The End.

PBH Free Fringe Fundraiser

 This was last Wednesday. Really good night. The Bedford is a proper gig venue, old school, it has a green room with loads of graffiti all of over the walls from various bands, wicked. The bill was a mixture of poets, singers and comedians. They were all of a very good standard. I think these sorts of mixed bills are my favourite gigs and all of these people on the bill all seem to be out there and doing really well as the merch stall was packed with products. Don't often see a merch stall at the usal gigs I do.  I'd never seen Attila The Stockbroker before, he was great and lived up to the name. Was really impressed with Chris T-T too. He was something else.

Back in the booth

 

Been a while since I did anything like this. Wrote the bars on the spot. Was good fun though. Round Conrad Murray's studio again. Think I got shown up by the younger guys! Track line up:  Boss Man Bob, me, Killer Plo and Nahum. Beatbox by Nahum, produced by Conrad Murray.

Count Up To Edinburgh #6 Hopefully they know what the name means now

Roundhouse Preview Yea, yea, it was sick, yea

Last Thursday I did the first preview for The C/D Borderline at The Roundhouse. You know what? It went really well. I was pretty chuffed on the whole. Yea there were bits that could have gone better, felt I rushed it a bit in places, I was having to mentally slow myself down (in fact it felt like the whole thing lasted about 5 minutes, but often that’s how the best ones go, it was a good 45). The audience were great, it was almost full (probably about 50 people in there) For some, that might be seem low but for me that’s flipping great, it was almost up to capacity and considering there was a massive event going on in the main space (the poetry slam final), Mark Grist and Tim Claire in the studio space, I felt I did really well. The space was perfect, small and cozy. I got in there around 4 in the afternoon and the tech, Tim, who I’ve worked with before was really good, had everything locked-down within about half an hour. I wish all shows went like this one. It’s given me lots to think about in regards to going up to Edinburgh, and, a bit of confidence. Let's see though..

Craft Beers, I’m just not convinced.

Though I never expect them to come, members of my family, some of my best mates and my girlfriend all turned up. They’re all very supportive and I count myself lucky, as they could well be sick of seeing me do this stuff, I imagine it can get pretty boring. As it is, they said they enjoyed it, which I was chuffed about. As it was, with the above attendees all in the venue, there was a lot of boozing involved afterward. Now, as anyone who knows me well, knows I do enjoy a good, crisp, fresh pint of premium lager, or 5. Recently, in the last few years anyway, a lot of these craft lagers now seem quite prominent in certain London boozers. I’m all for little independent businesses thriving and competing with these global giants but when it comes to these craft lagers, I’m yet to drink one that I actually like, and like, there everywhere now. Well, not everywhere, hold tight Ganleys in Morden, that's my spot. I dunno about these craft ones though, maybe they’re trying to hard to make them taste different, throwing all sorts of fruity concoctions together, but for a simpleton like me, it’s too much. Lager aint like ale. The difference between a good tasting one and a shit tasting one is both thin and simple. Roundhouse have that Camden Hell’s lager on tap, it seems to have done very well as is available all over the place. Either way, I had a quite a few of those despite me not really feeling it that much. But what I did feel, was a splitting headache the next day, like one of the worst headaches I’ve had in a long time,  like during my sleep someone slipped into my bedroom whilst I was spark-out and drilled inrto my brain, siphoning out all the fluid. It was like the Stella heaches I used to get before they weakened it a bit. Good night though.

Getting Closer to Edinburgh, In A Tight Situation Now..

 First preview done, Guilford next month but before all of that, there's tomorrow and THIS which will be supa-dupa: 

TICKETS HERE: PBH Free Fringe Benfit Gig at the Bedford, Balham 

Look at all thoses names below all of which will all be at The Edinburgh Fringe this year. Gecko is the man who got me the gig, I'll be featuring in his show tomorrow night. Oddly enough we are both also in the same venue in Edinburgh, The Pilgrim. Small world eh. Reach, it's for a good cause and should be banaging!