Wednesday 31 July 2019

History Of Fringe Part 7 - & Facebook translations


Brand new from the Socks, shot on location in Edinburgh, Part 7 of our History of the Edinburgh Fringe, all about the growth of multi-tenanted venues. Enjoy.

And the fun doesn't stop with the video itself. Facebook appears to have added a new subtitling feature, which automatically guesses at the words. You can then tweak this, which I have done for a bit of the video (and will finish soon). But before the tweaking, the translations are hilarious gibberish.


The Gilded Balloon has becomes Guilty Balloon, The Pleasance Dome is now The Peasants Doom, Chaplaincy Centre has become The Chocolate Center (they even spelled centre wrong)...


And Patter Hoose has become "properties fathers". Bizarrely literal transliteration there Facebook.


William Burdett-Coutts has become "William Dead where you bought that cutest".


And quite what this was I can't remember, but we definitely didn't say anything about any Muslim events!

I may leave some of the more amusing gibberish on there, but we'd probably get more viewings if people could make sense of it all.

Bonus video: The Socks made this video giving a Russian show called Forest the chance to plug their show. I doubt our few pitiful Youtube viewers will amount to a hill of beans to anyone, but it's fun to do. I've subsequently filmed some more such clips on the Royal Mile, which may make their way into a video soon.




July 31st - August 25th, The Scottish Falsetto Socks ROLL UP! at the Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose 9.30pm, every night of the Edinburgh Fringe 2019. Sexy new venue, sexy new timeslot. Book now!

Tuesday 30 July 2019

Argh! Worst soundcheck ever


Here's the Gilded Balloon's new venue Patter Hoose, the way it looked last night at about 8 o'clock. It was still way more ready than me.

Every year when we come up to Edinburgh, the first important task is my get-in and soundcheck. I've been doing it for over a decade now, and pride myself in having one of the smoothest and shortest get ins. It never takes more than 20 minutes. I get complimented on it and thanked by my technicians, with whom I go on to have a marvellous working month.

And so it was I was all set for my soundcheck to take place on Tuesday night at 8pm. On Monday night, settled into our new flat, I took a wee walk around to look at the outside of my new venue (above), then Hev & I sat down to watch University Challenge at 8.30. At 8.45 I get a phone call from the head of production asking "Kev, where are you?".

My soundcheck was on Monday, not Tuesday. I'd misread the email!

On Monday morning, in my hotel room in Newcastle before setting off, I'd read the email from Meredith in production which said "Hope this finds you well, unfortunately there’s been a schedule conflict – I’m need to have to push your tech time back to 8pm – 9pm tomorrow night. Apologies for any inconvenience!". I replied saying that was okay and that I'd see them at 8pm.

So, I thought, my soundcheck's been moved forward a day, that's fine. Like an idiot, I didn't realise Meredith had written the email on Sunday night. So when she said "tomorrow" she meant today. I am an idiot.

I rushed to the Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, and have never been more grateful for being so close to my venue. It's only 5 minutes away, closer than I've ever been. Luckily my technician, Florence, had agreed to stay on another half hour so we could get it done. This was going to be easy.

All I had to do, as I always do, and as I'd had practice doing last weekend in Bedford, was hand the CD with all my music on to the technician, erect my set while she was copying the songs over, or whatever it is they do, we'd agree on the lights, we'd quickly run through my songs to get my voice balanced right over the top of them, we'd find the place where I am to store my set for the month, and twenty minutes later I'd be out of there. Exactly like we've done it for the last 10 years.

Except this year there is no CD player, and no laptops that can copy from a CD. I needed my tracks on data stick or sent by Drop Box. (There had undoubtedly been an email telling me this, which I'd read as carefully as the "8pm tomorrow" email.) I had anticipated the data stick thing, which I've had with other venues, and was going to copy over my tracks ready for a Tuesday soundcheck. But now it was too late. I had them on my ipod, which didn't help, and my phone, which they couldn't copy from either. The only way they could do it (they being Florence and the head of technical whose name has escaped me in the sweaty blur that the night was becoming) was copying the tracks from my laptop.

So I ran back to the flat, got the laptop, made sure I had a datastick, and ran back to the venue. Ten minutes of our precious extra time had already been used up. Then I had to copy the tracks from itunes to the datastick, which with sweaty fingers didn't happen right the first time, then Flo had to copy them into QLab, which involved numbering them because, of course, the beauty of the Socks simple sound cues is we just ask the technician for the next track every time. But when you copy them over, suddenly their order disappears.

Half an hour had been eaten up already by this rigmarole, and we hadn't got as far as hearing my voice over the music. Eventually we got to soundchecking the first song (I'm A Sock) and had just about got the sound balance right when Florence ran out of time. It was 9.50 at night and she'd been told she had to get out of the building. I'd wasted an extra hour of her time and we hadn't finished the soundcheck.

On the plus side, I have a great storage area for my set, and I know we'll get it right on the night. One year, 2009 I think, the show itself was my soundcheck as I didn't arrive in Edinburgh until the afternoon of the first night, and that worked out fine. I'm used to playing at comedy clubs where you don't even get a soundcheck. Of course this cock-up (my fault, I have to reiterate) has to happen with the show which has more sound cues than any previous one (15 tracks, when others have as few as 9), but that's the way it crumbles cookie-wise.

It's the morning of the next day and I'm still shaking slightly. Blimey, this old frame hasn't seen that much sweaty exercise and blind panic in a while, obviously. Welcome to Edinburgh.


Oor Wullie on the Royal Mile, and why not.

PS: And we saw Boris. Well, almost. While we were in the car on our way to pick up the keys to our flat from our estate agent in the New Town, a flotilla of black diplomatic cars with police outriders held up the traffic to sweep through. That was Boris on his way to see Nicola Sturgeon. First star spot of the season.



July 31st - August 25th, The Scottish Falsetto Socks ROLL UP! at the Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose 9.30pm, every night of the Edinburgh Fringe 2019. Sexy new venue, sexy new timeslot. Book now!

Sunday 28 July 2019

Yeetabix? Last kids' comics of term


The last comics of term, my term that is, all schools having broken up by last weekend. These include three days of holiday classes at Backwell school, buring which I learned the word 'Yeet'. It seems to be the kids new popular word of choice and, as you'll see, it ends up being in the titles of three of their comics. I believe it's the word one shouts when one throws something, m'lud.


Again at Backwell, and more of this Yeet malarkey. Needless to say, they hadn't heard of or seen the old Weetabix bovver boys who advertised the cereal back in the day. In fact they seemed quite shocked by them when they saw a photo. It would be a bad way of selling breakfast fods nowadays, it seems.


This was a half day at Backwell, so we only produced one comic, but I did have time to draw a nice flipchart.


Flashing back a week, this was from Reach Academy in Feltham on their penultimate day of term. This was the completion of the Hounslow Histories project I carried out last month, and was a class that I'd already been paid for. Fun either way.


Final day of classes were at Nottingham Central Library and nearby Wollaton Library, and again we have the word Yeet rearing its yeetly head. The Frog and Platypus is a favourite though, and an excuse to go to town on the colouring. Classes resume in September.


I had time on my day Nottingham to produce two flipcharts to leave them with. The archery-based Nottingham one was on recycled paper, so the poor kid who's taken it home can read the words of a totally different lecture bleeding through from the other side.


The celebrities these 9 groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip were David Walliams, Michael Jackson, Billie Eilish, Donald Trump (three times), Boris Johnson, Simon Cowell, and James Charles.

Taking booking for the Autumn term now!


Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for The Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who et al, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries & art centres. email for details. Facebook, Twitter. Promo video here

Wednesday 24 July 2019

Send In The Clowns - pre show music finished


Here, brand new from the Socks, is their version of Send In The Clowns, from the newly-completed (I think, these things can change) audience-in music for Roll Up. Enjoy.

The full running order of the 10 minute sequence that should see the crowd into their seats is:

The Show Must Go On (2'30") - The Leo Sayer classic, but with the little-known Three Dog Night musical introduction. Turns out the Socks voices work perfectly in Leo's key, who knew.

Annie The Elephant (53") - For a while this was part of the show, now it's at home welcoming them in.

Send In The Clowns  (1'37") - During which I expect most people to be seated and for the show to start, but on fuller nights it'll go on longer. In which case they'll hear...

Abracadabra (38") - A cough and a spit verse that made me laugh

For The Benefit Of Mr Kite (33")  - Written purely cos I had a rhyme for Patter Hoose and a rhyme for shite. Pathetic.

Anne Hathaway (50") - Another song that was in the show at one point , now in its place in the grey area of will-they-hear-it-or-won't-they?

The Show Must Go On (again). So if, after seven minutes, they haven't managed to squeeze 60 people into a room, we get another 2 and a half minutes of Leo Sayer impersonation. If they're not in after 10 minutes and 17 seconds, we'll be over-running too badly to contemplate.

If you're interested, last year's Superheroes intro music was a medley of songs, most of which you'll find here in the Superheroes video playlist, and Shakespeare's was a similar very long medley of tunes, which you'll find here in the Shakespeare playlist.

2015's Minging Detectives intro was a Police Reggae Medley you can hear in its entirety here. At 5 minutes 41 it seems to have been the right length, so it looks like we've timed it right this year.




The Scottish Falsetto Socks brand new show ROLL UP! is previewing Nationwide:(Only 2 previews to go)
July 20 - Bedford Fringe

July 28 - Derby Bar One 

July 31st - August 25th, The Scottish Falsetto Socks ROLL UP! at the Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose 9.30pm, every night of the Edinburgh Fringe 2019. Sexy new venue, sexy new timeslot. Book now!

Friday 19 July 2019

New Socks Roll Up! shirt available now


Here it is at last, the 2019 Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre: ROLL UP! Official t-shirt and it can be yours now! Ready to post next week (or throughout August, till they sell out).

It's our traditional black t shirt, available in Small, Medium, Large, XL, XXL, and Female Medium, bearing the new Socks Roll Up roundel (detail below, clearly fake shirt in photo above)

To order one, simply pay £20 (UK) /$30 (to USA) by Paypal to sockpuppets@sitcomtrials.co.uk including in your order the size you want and your full address. A shirt will be yours by return.


The print run has been made, so sizes are limited to the ones shown above (thanks to those who pre-ordered kids sizes and super-duper-large shirts, those are now sadly out of stock).

In Edinburgh the shirts will be £15 each direct from me (ie postage free). Text or DM me to order those when you're up there.

Thanks in anticipation for your orders. Love The Socks.

 NB: Postage. Two shirts are £35 / $50 inc postage, three shirts are £52 / $75 inc postage, four shirts are £70 / $100 inc postage.



The Scottish Falsetto Socks brand new show ROLL UP! is previewing Nationwide:(Only 2 previews to go)
July 20 - Bedford Fringe

July 28 - Derby Bar One 

July 31st - August 25th, The Scottish Falsetto Socks ROLL UP! at the Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose 9.30pm, every night of the Edinburgh Fringe 2019. Sexy new venue, sexy new timeslot. Book now!

Monday 15 July 2019

Roll Up! Flyer & poster ready at last


Have I cut it a bit fine this year? I think I might have. Today was the deadline to get the artwork to the printers for the Socks' Edinburgh flyers and posters, and at just after 5pm we sent them over. Phew. The hardest part? As ever, it's the back of the flyer. This has me agonising every year. What do you think?


I say "what do you think?" but, to be honest, if I've made a glaring error it's too late to put it right. This is what we're going with, 10,000 of which I shall be thrusting in the faces of punters on the Royal Mile, Bristo Square, and outside the new Patter Hoose venue for the next month. Oh, and here's the poster.


The eagle eyed among you may have spotted an improvement upon the version of the images that appear in the ad in the programme. Can you see it? Here's a clue, a wee glimpse of the work in progress...


Ooh, not my most flattering photo. And that's why my face doesn't get seen by the public. Off you go now and buy your tickets.



The Scottish Falsetto Socks brand new show ROLL UP! is previewing Nationwide:(Only 2 previews to go)
July 20 - Bedford FringeJuly 28 - Derby Bar One 


July 31st - August 25th, The Scottish Falsetto Socks ROLL UP! at the Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose 9.30pm, every night of the Edinburgh Fringe 2019. Sexy new venue, sexy new timeslot. Book now!

Amputation? Decapitation?!? Comics by kids


A slightly sick twist to the comics this week, probably a result of working with a mix of years 7 to 10 in their Activities week. So it was that Churchill Academy's kids gave us an amputation themed cover, as well as a Theresa May one (full disclosure: on the actual copy they took home in their hands, I've mis-spelled Theresa as Therasa. What happens when you're talking and trying to write and draw at the same time.)


In Radcliffe School (sorry The Radcliffe School, it has a definite article, and why not) in Wolverton Milton Keynes, they'd gone one step further with a full blown decapitation in their title. The Insinabrablil title is one of those occasional examples where a kids' handwriting is so garbled, none of us can actually read what they've written, so I pronounce it as a gibberish word, and it's the funniest thing they've ever heard, so it wins.


On Sunday I travelled to Harpenden to do my class at a 9th birthday party, for a lad called Harry. These are always unpredictable events, and I was pleased to get kudos from the parents for my crowd control. One kid, regardless of what question he'd been asked, would always answer "Poopy". Hours of endless fun. I've coloured up the flipchart I left them with, in lieu of them not getting a photocopied comic to take away. We can still have fun without a photocopier.


The celebrities these five groups chose to star in my demonstration strip were Freddie Mercury, Gordon Ramsey, Boris Johnson, Ant McPartlin and David Attenborough.


Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for The Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who et al, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries & art centres. email for details. Facebook, Twitter. Promo video here

Friday 12 July 2019

Toilets, Pants & Knickers - comics by kids


My trip to Strule Arts in Omagh, which, as I think I've recorded elsewhere, was hardly the most profitable bit of travelling once I'd taken out all the costs, nevertheless produced a couple of stonking covers which, when coloured up, look a treat. I do hope the kids got to see the finished item. (When I'm in a school, you see, I can email the finished item to their teacher. At an art centre where they've dropped in from all over, I can only hope they see these when I post them on Twitter. Hi kids.


At Stewkeley in Gloucestershire, the year 3 and 4s (the youngest I've worked with for a while) came up with the sweetest and most innocent titles of the month. Which reminds me, I should really tot up at the end of the year which age groups I've worked with most.


At St Katherines School in Pill the kids overdosed on name-dropping titles. Four mashed up TV and movie icons there, such fun.


The 6 celebrities these groups chose for my demonstration strip were Tom Holland, Hermione Granger, Emma Watson (yes, she was chosen separately under both names), William Shakespeare, Simon Cowell and Beyonce.


Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for The Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who et al, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries & art centres. email for details. Facebook, Twitter. Promo video here

Monday 8 July 2019

The Little Mermaid - new video from the Socks


Brand new song and video from the Socks, riffing on the recent Little Mermaid story, and to the tune of a song by our favourite singer songwriter Dean Friedman. And guess what, Dean approves. Click and enjoy.

ARIEL

Way on the other side of disturbed and
Deep in the bosom of suburbia
There are some people who don’t like the girl who sings
Under The Sea and Part Of Your World

Standing by the phrase “I’m not racist but”
They start petitions bout who can play parts and who can’t
They’re going crazy cos a fictional cartoon mermaid
Is being played by someone they don’t think can be

Ariel

She is a cartoon girl, she is a mermaid
Sings underwater and her best friends are fish
But if she was black they say that’s unrealistic
How’d you tell these people that she doesn’t exist?

They sit and they tweet into the night
Gnashing their braced teeth and pulling out their blonde hair
While the rest of us will just go watch the film
And their complaints will float off into the air

Ariel


The Scottish Falsetto Socks brand new show ROLL UP! is previewing Nationwide:

June 27 - Neath Comedy Festival
July 4 - Maesteg Town Hall 
July 8 - Barnes Fringe
July 12 - Kings Arms Salford, GM Fringe
July 20 - Bedford Fringe
July 28 - Derby Bar One 

July 31st - August 25th, The Scottish Falsetto Socks ROLL UP! at the Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose 9.30pm, every night of the Edinburgh Fringe 2019. Sexy new venue, sexy new timeslot. Book now!
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