wondrous sounds

Purchased a wonderful new guitar a couple of weeks back. I've been looking for a quality hand made english instrument and came across a couple of A1 reviews for Brook Guitars. Investigation told me that the waiting time from order to delivery was 12-14 months which speaks volumes for quality but hey how can any self respeting musician (and I use the term loosely) wait for that length of time to get their hands on a collection of stuck together wooden bits which will provide hours of drooling. Not this one anyrate! The company have only 3 dealers and I visited Intersound of Dursely where I was warmly welcomed and provided with coffee and lashings of muso bon hommie. I tried 5 or 6 of the Brook models and another 4/5 of high quality alternatives but hey when those magical sound waves that are emitted from the Brook Tamar (they're made in Devon and all models are named after Devon rivers) meander around the shop and into your lugholes there's no going back, no way - handed over my hard won lukka and exited shop door grinning from ear to ear. I swear my playing has improved ninefold - joke.
In just over 10 days the rehearsals start for the next tour of my musical play "The Eva Cassidy Story" and I'm very much looking forward to that and the ensuing tour. For tour details www.theatre-productions.com Also had a productive meeting last week with a London company for an imminent deal on a new musical play for launch Aug 09 and a West End debut in early 09. Hey not bad for an old timer who's only been writing for 7 years - well someone even if its youra truly has to give me a pat on the head and a rub of the ego right?
Another piece of good news today my childhood team - as they say in Lancashire there are 2 teams in Manchester, Manchester City and Manchester City reserves(god bless their little cotton socks) scraped through their Eufa qualifier and into the tournament proper. Big stroke boys but not in the bath! Also tonight had the unfortunate experience of listening to the most doleful and boring, he of the turnip head variety, commentating on the Villa match. I used to think Mark Lawrenson was bad but stone me he is brilliant compared to this guy. He was so bad I can't at this moment in time recall his name which speaks volumes for his incompetance and my encroaching dementia!! Was it Gordon Taylor?
See ya soon.

A surprise!

Well another month or so has slipped by and I'm in the midst of tinkering and mini rewrites for the forthcoming tour of my Eva Cassidy Story which opens in Barrow -wow!- in Furness and then trundles around the U.K. and Ireland til early November. It's looking good with Faye Tozer again playing Eva but Irish songstress Rose Marie is playing Eva's mother for this- and hopefully the next tour. It's a strong line up and I'm looking forward to it particularly as all rehearsals will be in Kettering rather than than hole of a place they call our capital city. I detest London with a vengeance.
It's still looking good for my next big adventure which is a musical play set in the 60's and 70's and pencilled for a short regional tour next August and into thence into the West End. Not bad for a boy who failed 'O' level GCE English literature eh? Also submitted a I act play to a festival in Derbyshire about W.W. 1. War is hardly my favourite subject matter but I'm happy that it manages to say something about ordinary people caught up in what must have been the most terrible of situations as trench warfare decimated so many lives.
A friend rang me last night bearing a pleasant surprise. He is on a short break in Criccieth N. Wales and was muching around Cobb Records which has an international presence on the rare and strange 'vinyl' . Ploughing through the piles of albums he came across a signed copy of a Giggetty album called Tambourine - Giggetty is the folksy band I formed back in 1970 whilst running a folk club in a village called Wombourne just south of Wolverhampton - and who, in a very different, and sad, guise are still pottering around the Midlands. There was an early Beatles album for £14,Elvis stuff etc and but Tambourine (recorded completely in a single day on 4 track) was the most expensive on display at £35. My mate asked about this and was informed that it is a highly collectible album and much prized. I have been told of other albums (we recorded 5) appearing on eBay and going for around £40-£50 and I bitterly regret having dumped so many copies of these various albums due to lack of space and such like over the years. Still it was a nice little pick me up on a wet dismal summers evening.
Well that's all for now see ya!

second attempt

Here we go again! I've just spent a half hour composing an update which disappeared into into cyber space as I published it!! That's the trouble with these things, bloody frustrating.
Anyway have been struck down by 'blogblight' last couple of months as dejection set in over the lack of postings. Still let no assert that playwrights are not tenacious in the face of adversity so here we go.
The last Eva Cassidy tour was a blast on all sides - great shows, great audiences, Reta royalties (oh well 2 out of 3 ain't bad as they say")and am looking forward to rehearsals in August for what will be the 8th tour and during the 3 months it will be back in Jersey a place I never tire of visiting as it has many memories for myself and my wife. Delighted that Faye Tozer is once again playing the lead role and almost all of the previous cast have been re recruited which is always a bonus for continuity of excellence.
An exciting project for 2009 is still on track and it is on this blog that the first announcements will be made - exciting or what! Well it'll be nice for me to read anyway. If that isn't a reason to post your comments then I don't know what is! sorry slipping into the realms of fantasy again - slapped wrist.
Have had a quiet couple of months as far as writing is concerned most of my efforts having been directed at updates to the Eva script, similar attention to the script for the "exciting announcement" so mentioned above, and dealing with the workload from the 'oneactplays' website which has been doing well of late. Bought a new car - Saab 93 Vector Sport - which we are enjoying - but my driving has been extremely constrained by an arm which is so slowly getting better. This recovery helps lifting a pint pot or wine glass much easier than having to bend down to the counter and sip through a straw which is not only acutely embarrassing but extremely bad for the back. Gawd almighty what it is to be of a certain age!
Anyway lets hope I can successfully post this and , who knows, maybe someone will actually read it! Such things are dreams made of.

only the lonely

Great song great singer. It's a pity blogs wern't around when the Big O was in fine voice as this blog would have been the perfect encapsulation of the lyrical content! If this was not all in the virtual world I would swear I was needing to take more frequent showers or change my after shave balm! Still as one door closes another slams shut in your face as they say. Never mind I remain optimistic that eventually I will get a blog visitor....really I am.
Read a piece about the footballer Ian Wright bemoaning his role as a soccer pundit and feeling that he was merely the symbolic multi cultural jester and he did not intend to continue with that part of his career.He was also irate about the convential dress of his fellow pundits messrs Hanson and Lawrenceson (not sure about the spelling) and felt the whole show needed an update. Sure we could have Amy Whinehouse co-hosting with old man Pete and a bunch of fans selected by a panel of reputed experts who's only reason for appearing on such a show would be to enhance their celebrity ratings. The point is we don't need Hanson and co (although I do have a soft spot for the inoffensively bland Gary Linnaker) and we don't need some plonker of a celeb to drool spittle and alcohol as he/she launches his/her considerd opinion upon the Match of the Day viewing public. Fact is we don't need anyone - is there anyone on this planet of ours who does not immediately rach for the mute button once the so called 'analysis' commences. Yeah Alan we can see he 'splays the ball out to the right and the covering centreback is dragged out of positioon creeating........." Blah blah blah I vote we give it all to Bart Simpson - we'd get a sight more sense out of him that our expert pundits. "He pulls the ball back across the edge of the area, jinks, wrongfoots the the back player who's having a nighmare, neat little shimmy and it's in the top corner"........we've got eyes you moron we can see it on our screens!!!!!!

Do theatre critics rate below estate agents and bankers?

Answer - most definitely affirmative. Exactly what purpose do they serve other than to trot out their own home grown brand of intellectual arrogance which bears absolutely no relation to the real world serving only to oil their own insatiable self importance! I say this not from the position of having to bear the brunt of a critical review - I've always refused to read them or to allow a critic to see any of my shows unless they purchase a ticket along with everyone else. And that's a good tip to have them give you a wide berth. Some months ago there were rumblings of discontent within the theatre press - The Stage etc - about the perceived power of the critics to close shows most notably those vying for fame and fortune in the West End. From what I remember a number of organisations were pointing out - shock horror - what everyone already knew that these anachronistic critics survive by spewed a load of old b******s which is almost unilaterally at odds with the way the work was received by the audience. I've sat through shows that I and several hundred fellow audience members have thoroughly enjoyed only to hear how the write up has been an outburst of vitriol and disdain. Similarly I've sat through "art" along with 25 others all equally bored, bemused but not bothered to find the show advocated as a 'must see'! Scary or what? Anyway suffice to say that even estate agents and bankers do serve some purpose in this world we lease but theatre critics......pull the other one!!!!

back in the world of the living!

well the lurgie seems to meandered into stratosphere and things are looking brighter. I had a call from a writer yesterday asking about publication and he is sending me his work for consideration of publishing on the website. Anyone else out there in blogland interested in sending stuff check out the websites - www.leglessproductions.co.uk and www.oneactplays.org.uk I don't claim to be the next publishing phenomenon but I can at least put stuff out there in cyberspace. Sales are as you might guess unpredictable and you won't make much cash but then what playwright except those at the top of the tree worried about that. The legless site is mainly aimed at the pro market but also showcases full length work suitable for both the pro end and the amateur market and the oneactplays is aimed primarily at the societal drama groups. Did a radio broadcast last week for the Eva Cassidy show in Leicester, enjoyed it and it makes a change for the writer to be invited instead of the 'stars'! Had to duck out of a free evening in Birmingham hosted by 'The Writers Guild' due to a dodgy knee which is affecting my driving just at the moment. I don't know how many of you out there subscribe to the Guild but one of my ongoing beefs is their total neglect of the commercial end of theatre i.e. the producing houses in the unfunded world of course is where, for all of my sins, I choose to work. There's a gap out there for someone to fill so come on all you similarly minded writers lets get together and form us an association. Silly me there's already one in existence isn't there, it's called the unemployment register! Seriously though a forum on the net where us bods could meet (or virtually meet to be precise) would be 'bosting' - that is Black Country slang for 'brilliant'! Anyway now intending to rest from writing once the latest play is completed and concentrate on recording my CD for the benefit of all those grandchildren and friends out there desperately awaiting receipt of the said CD!!!! Bye for now.

one great one good!

Hi again and welcome to the magical and mundane world of the playwright. Went to catch up on my Eva Cassidy Story at Lichfield Garrick on Friday and Saturday. Friday was stunning, a perfect performance and true harmonisation of sound, acting and technical bits - the only whinge I still have relates to some detail in costuming. Saturday was an excellent performance again by the cast - the lead male Reuben has grown into the role superbly and the whole ensemble exudes a focus and energy alongside a belief which together produces a sparkling and electric audience experience. Well done guys and see you again in the near future.
I've had a tough few weeks being struck down by a wave of lurgie which has befuddled my brain (I do realise that such a state is not a too challenging task to achieve) and rendered my ability to write to linger in a morass of lacklustre creative instincts. It's also left me feeling excessively tired in a way that is the equivalent of being permanently hungover. Am now slowly emerging and have some considerable stuff to catch up on so, fingers crossed, am in for a busy 2/3 weeks or so.
Had coffee this morning with two old and gracious friends of mine also still in the entertainment business and always with a thousand bogglingly funny anecdotes to tell. If you're around the Midlands and ever see a billboard sporting the name "Dandy" drop everything and make sure you catch the gig. Unquestionably the funniest act within 50 miles of Birmingham and likely much farther. Why they're not a household name remains one of those ridiculously stupid conundrums which are too painful to ponder.
I expect Eva fans will know that the film of her life story is in pre-production with an American company headed by the daughter of Robert Redford. Lets all hope that it comes to fruition (only something like 5% of films which enter pre-production ever make it to celluloid - God that's give my age away in this digital age) and can thus bring Eva's music to a so far completely deaf American audience to whom her name means zilch. The Eva show producer and I went to Washington a few years ago to meet up with people who had known her. We went to a small town called Bowie where she spend the majority of her pre and teenage years and narry a soul had ever heard of her. When you mention the U.K. and Europe phenomena they smile politely muttering "Gee is that right, well have a nice day and thank you for asking." Even at her old secondary school -The Robert Goddard School- we could only find an administrator and a teacher who remembered her and there is not a single refernce to her anywhere within the establishment. This is kind of odd as American schools usually hook into the most minor of old pupil's achievements like flies to s*** creating exotic and reverent homages for all to see. Weird! Incidentally the teacher I mentioned was in fact an old friend of Eva and played with her in several bands. Sadly he did not wish to talk to us but that whole scenario is a blog for another day - or year!!

Question - Before the programme starts how can you know 'who dun it' in any of today's detective flicks?
Answer - Check out who's the most famous guest co star and you'll have your answer. It never fails!
See you soon.