Here's me and my table at this weekend's Meanwhile comic festival in Coventry, and an absolute treat it was. I did no classes, no talks, just stood behind my table and sold comics all day, then went out and talked nonsense with smashing people all night.
Monday 20 September 2021
Meanwhile in Coventry - a splendid show
Here's me and my table at this weekend's Meanwhile comic festival in Coventry, and an absolute treat it was. I did no classes, no talks, just stood behind my table and sold comics all day, then went out and talked nonsense with smashing people all night.
Tuesday 14 September 2021
Kirknewton comic
My five days of online classes with the pupils of Kirknewton Primary School near Edinburgh have now been processed, edited, rewritten, and coloured by my fair hands and turned into an 8 page full colour comic which is about to be printed and published as part of a larger local history project. My thanks to Tony Foster for involving me in this, and giving me the chance to squeeze such great work out of the kids. Here it all is...
Shuggy Barr
Very sad news, which will mean something to anyone who's come to the Scottish Falsetto Socks' Zoom shows over the last year: I'm afraid Shuggy, aka Scott Barr, died a few weeks ago.
Sunday 5 September 2021
Gig reports - Supporting Paul Sinha + Minging Detectives & Eurovision
Three gigs in two nights, in Whitchurch and Stourbridge, sharing the bill with Stephen Bailey and Paul Sinha, and the Socks rocked every one. How's that for a weekend? Congratulations to Wayne Beese of Beeneese for orgnising three sellout gigs at two great venues. Whitchurch on Friday was at a hotel, in a marquee in the garden, then Stourbridge was at a pub called Katie Fitzgeralds which has a newly-built theatre stuck out the back. This was meant to be just an 8.30 show, but sold so well that he was able to add a 5.30 show, which also sold out. Excellent.
But look at me spending so much time talking about a few wee gigs, where the Socks only played 15 and 20 minutes per show (we gave them Star Wars in two sets, The Western in one, Sweary Poppins in one, Magic Routine in two, Earth Song in all three, Ship In A Bottle in all three, and various ad libs and other material scattered between), but I've not reported on our two Edinburgh Fringe solo shows. So, belatedly, here goes.
Minging Detectives on August 6th sold 31 tickets through Edfringe and 10 through WeGotTickets, a total of 42. I enjoyed digging out the old 2015 show, but it was a reminder of how variable a script it's always been.
Songs like Old Oak Tree (above) and others were fun, but the two divisive numbers, which I played in on video rather than re-perform (Black & White Minstrels Old Man River Police, and Hello Muddah Intifada) remain problematic and not to everyone's taste. I still think they're good satire, but I've been wrong before.
A fun show, with a good after show drinkies, but it paled in comparison to our next show two weeks later.
Eurovision Sock Contest on August 20th sold 59 through Edfringe and 12 through WGT, a total of 71. Though 71 people didn't turn up, or rather 71 screens didn't. So I'm wondering how many people bought one ticket per head instead of one per screen? Hope they felt they got value for money, it was certainly a great show.
I promised I'd send them the video link for the show, and asked the Edfringe buyers to send me their emails in Chat. Unfortunately I realised afterward that Private/Direct Chat doesn't get saved, so I lost them all! I've put the show on Youtube for everyone to see, and hopefully they'll find it and won't mind. Being there to vote was the biggest buzz, and of course they were able to join us in the virtual bar after, which was a good one.
I changed the running order from May, making a much more satisfying show, and giving us a more balanced result. In May it was a 50% landslide for the UK entry. This time we had a tie...
1 - Nous Sommes Francais by Jonni Forinna = 19% (9 votes)
2 - Scandi Noir by Sexiblond = 13% (6 votes)
3 - Thumping by Deconstructivist Kollectiv = 17% (8 votes)
4 - In A Bin by Graham Norton = 4% (2 votes)
5 - Stuck Ur Brexit Up Ur Arse by Fine Fare = 23% (11 votes)
6 - East Bloc People by Azherbi-Curious = 23% (11 votes)
7 - Ignore The Song by Deep C Diva = 2% (1 vote)
We had a decider conversation, allowing our overseas voters to have a casting choice, and the UK was declared winner. Most satisfying to have had so many votes spread around, a validation of my effort after all.
See the Eurovision Sock Contest full show here
4 star review from Sinners Review
Douze points review from Lothian Life
I've not decided when the Socks will do their next online show, most likely for Halloween, which could become a bit of a tradition. But, as you can see, live gigs are coming back in a big way, so maybe we'll be concentrating on those for a while.
Puppies Of War - Comics by Kirknewton kids
This week, for all five days, I did classes with Kirknewton Primary School near Edinburgh, just in the morning, and all from the back room. It's part of a project whereby I'll be taking the strips they've drawn and assembling them into an 8 page printed comic. And it's all on a theme of local history which, beautifully, they've already swotted up on in advance which meant they knew what they wanted to do before we started. As a result I abandoned some usual features of my class, in particular the "Celebrity Treads On A Worm" demonstration strip, in favour of looking at particular things they needed to draw for their strips. I may do more of this as it's actually very constructive and productive, if slightly less of a comedy show. To begin with, Primary 7 did the story of an alien abduction, which is genuinely part of local history and, obviously, a joy for them to get creative with.