Old Haunts, New Material.

This evening, I returned to the new material night Touching Cloth for the first time since last year's Edinburgh (I think) to do what the remit of a new material night might suggest.

I've always liked the gig, but the fact I did a couple of previews of my own show at the venue, plus a performance of it in the Autumn, conspired to make me feel more relaxed in the room than I used to. It helps that the guy who runs the gig - Frank Cassidy - is such a lovely chap who runs a super-tight ship. It was nice to arrive without the nervous dread I'd suffered there in the past, particularly during the first few solo stand-up gigs I ever did. Back then, I'd lock myself in one of toilet cubicles downstairs to silently mouth through my set, which never helped me relax, mainly because the temperature in the gents' loos at the Water Poet is akin to a sauna favoured by the more experienced Swede; I'd often leave them with a sweat patch on my back reminiscent of the Turin Shroud.

My set tonight went well, considering I wrote most of it today. The subject matter was a little scatological - maybe too much - but I don't think this would be signposted if hidden away in the midst of a longer performance. If nothing else, it's good to tick something new off. I'm looking forward to when I finally getting the chance to sit down properly and work through my blogs with a view to stitching a new show together; when I get around to it, you'll be the first to know.

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...

'...I'm Gonna Look at You 'til My Eyes Go Blind."

Over the past week or two, I’ve been on a bit of a Sheryl Crow kick, largely thanks to rediscovering her cover of one of my most-liked Bob Dylan songs. She has one of my favourite female voices, yet despite this, I only own one CD and that’s just a single (her '97 release ‘Hard to Make a Stand’); on that basis, you can only imagine how much of her back catalogue I’d own if I hated her (it would fall into minus-figures). Dylan, conversely, takes up more of my collection than anyone else, save The Beatles and Paul McCartney’s solo work. He’s one of those artists who, when you get him, you really get him - and once I’d tuned into his style as a student, I'd time and again be blown away by his lyrics; he’ll have more jaw-dropping imagery in one track than other people fit in a whole career. These days, I mostly listen to music in the morning when getting ready, and more often than not, this will consist of a suggested YouTube playlist when I’m in the bath, r...

mostly david ephgrave

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