Moaning Minnie (David).

Yet again, I've frazzled my brain with admin, rather than focusing on the things I'd rather prioritise on.

This always seems to be the case. Tonight, I've written press releases for the next few Mostly Comedys (I never know how to pluralise this) and pulled together a mailout to be sent to our mailing list in the morning. I wanted to get this out at the weekend, knowing it would increase sales for this week's show and raise awareness of the next few dates, but life got in the way. I long for the time when I'm not chasing my tail (in a metaphorical sense, as I'm essentially tail-less).

This happened at the expense of the two things I wanted to do this evening, which were (1) apply for the BBC New Comedy Competition (for which the deadline is midnight tonight) and (2) watch The X-Files with my wife (our current brain switch-off of choice). Predictably, neither happened. Bloody bastard bloody linear time.

Thankfully the whole day wasn't like this. This morning, my friend Rob drove to Hitchin to meet me for a coffee and a catch-up. I was looking forward to this all weekend, as it was the one pressure-free thing in my diary. It's always good to see him and we always have a laugh. He's a good chap, is Rob. Hopefully we'll meet up more often. This paragraph is about to fizzle out, but that's allowed. I make the rules here, right?

Not The Bayeux One.

The Carole King album Tapestry has been my 'getting-ready-in-the-morning' soundtrack for the past few weeks. It's been a favourite album ever since I was a student, which makes for a pleasantly gentle way to usher in the start of a day. I've always been a fan of a well-crafted song, which is something of a Carole King hallmark, ever since she started writing with her first husband in the early Sixties. Tapestry may be an unimaginative choice for a favourite LP, as it suggests I haven't delved that far into her career, but it's still an undoubted classic; anything with '(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman', 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?' and 'You've Got A Friend' on it can't really fail; if nothing else, it proves she likes writing songs with long titles. Next month, she's set to perform the album live in its entirety for the first time at a gig in Hyde Park, which I would have loved to have gone to, if it weren...

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera...

'Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream..."

While I’ve been practising meditation for quite some time now, I’ve recently taken to using the mindfulness app 'Headspace' . If you’ve never meditated before, or you’re an old hand at it, it’s a great resource, offering daily ten-minute guided meditations that create a sense of progress, rather than stagnating and going through the same process every day. Until I started using the app, I’d often listen to a handful of audio guided meditations I have on my phone in case of a brain emergency. If you see me with my eyes closed and my earphones in on public transport, I’m probably doing this (unless I’m sleeping and using this blog as an elaborate alibi). While the tracks on my phone are great, they can get a little repetitive as I become too familiar with them and start to anticipate everything the person on the recording will say. This is where Headspace is great, as it offers you a daily course with a different focus each day, as well as pl...

mostly david ephgrave

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