mostly david ephgrave

It's no surprise I'd sooner not have a Mostly Comedy to contend with tomorrow - least of all one at a new venue without Glyn - but it is what it is. Part of the problem is I have no time to focus on what I'd like to be doing at the moment, but I never get around to it. Today was a case in point: I managed to fit a lot in, but barely started on the work that was important to me. Sadly, time spent thinking about being funny is almost nonexistent, which isn't helping things; In fact, I'm pretty sure I spent most of today staring at my laptop screen as I tried to make it work. At least Glyn and I managed to drop off most of our equipment at the Town Hall today for tomorrow, which was a preemptive strike. I'm hoping tomorrow will be as easy as possible as I can't fit much more into my head; I'm sure things will fall into place, but I just don't want it all to get out-of-hand; I could just do with a little space to breathe and think.

My whole life currently consists of me rushing about to get nothing done. Today's a good example as there's a Mostly Comedy at the end of it that I haven't had the time to prepare for, and as I attempt to do this, my attention is completely split. It probably doesn't help that I don't feel match-fit to perform tonight, as I haven't really had my comedy head on lately (not in a Frank Sidebottom sense); I've been mostly knee-deep in admin (he says melodramatically), which is hardly a suitable warm-up. Hopefully the fact Glyn's back with us tonight - he had to miss the last show due to touring - will help. The plus-(and sometimes minus)-side to Mostly Comedy is we're seldom the focus and more the glue between the acts the audience came to see. That's not to say we can get away with not performing, but Glyn's and my time together is so minimal at the moment, there's no chance of us doing anything new; if I've been working on solo mate...

I long to establish a clear working structure to my day, so I can keep track of my achievements instead of feeling the goalposts are constantly moving, and avoid feeling chased, panicked or back-footed by the outside influences that inevitably get in my way. This is one of the downsides to self-employment, particularly when the majority of your work is self-generated; it's hard enough to give yourself time to prepare for an acting (or actor / muso) job for an outside company, let alone when you’re working for yourself. I have a musician friend for whom function gigs provide the majority of his income, yet his partner often forgets the gig is just a fraction of the job as he also needs to learn the music. While she understands this work needs to be done in principle, as far as she's concerned, if he’s at home then he’s available; consequently the majority of his preparatory time is spent doing odd-jobs around the house. I know the feeling, though for a completely differ...

I find it hard to accept Bob Dylan'a album Time Out of Mind is twenty years old now. This is not the only example of this type of disbelief. I’m also struggling to come to terms with the fact Paul McCartney’s Flaming Pie was released two decades ago, and that the first series of I’m Alan Partridge is the same age too; everywhere I look, I'm surrounded by things far older than should be; something which also applies to me: I can’t believe I’m twenty years old either.   Part of the problem stems from finding it hard to differentiate between the past two decades' names; the jump from 2000 to 2010 and onwards just doesn’t have the same ring as the difference between the Fifties and the Sixties; it’s all too murky and indistinguishable. But this doesn’t take away from the fact more time has passed since Time Out of Mind’s release than between JFK’s assassination and my birth; that’s unfathomable on every level for me. Something else that surprises me about that a...