One Step Beyond...
Shoreditch was my destination gig-wise last weekend, and what a cracking weekend it was!
Following my all too brief sojourn in the theatre, it's back to the circuit with a vengeance! MC'ing the Comedy Cafe, with one of the strongest bills I've ever introduced there - Steve Williams (who I saw perform for the first time and who I totally loved watching!), the gorgeous Nick Revell and the fabulous Ricky Grover. Thursday we had the addition of a new - to me - act called Steve Whiner who was just amazing too, bonus!
The Cafe used to be a bit of a comedy battleground back in the day. The crowds were lairy and it was always an "us and them" situation. Not any more, and certainly not this weekend! It was just incredibly laid back, and the kinda gig where you could try out a half formed idea and turn it into a routine over the course of three gigs. Which is exactly what happened to me and I was only the MC! I've come away with a blinding new gag and a whole new routine! How fantastic.
I was talking on Saturday night to Nick about the vibe in the room, and he said a lot of it was down to the tone I set as MC - which was very kind of him. I said it reminded me of a gig that used to run in Islington called the Meccano Club. You could go there with an idea and try it out and the audience would give you the space to do that. It makes for a special evening for both act and audience alike.
So that was all marvellous. The daytimes were pretty good too, bit of shopping, some beauty treatments, and a meeting on Saturday in Wimbledon with a representative of the company who are organising my 'surgery holiday' to Malaysia in October.
As the NHS cannot even sit down to discuss whether or not to pay for most of the surgery I need to rid myself of the rest of the loose skin, I've turned to a company called Gorgeous Getaways. The prices are incredible, a fraction of UK charges, but that's not the reason I am using them particularly. In addition to a far longer stay in hospital than you get here, you also get recovery in a 5 star hotel, with a nurse coming to see you every day to help you wash and change your dressings and anything else you might need. As a single woman, this is the kind of aftercare I need.
The package I've chosen is wonderful, two weeks recovery in Kuala Lumpur - which I am so excited about visiting - and then seven nights in am spa resort in Malaysia where they have an orangutang sanctuary!!!!! Plus, the nurse etc! How cool is that???? Massages and monkeys!!!!!!!!!
Sunday evening saw me getting all dressed up and heading off to the Colony Room in Soho. My pal Stephen K Amos was filming a tv show called 'Suggs in the City' there. Incidentally a huge congratulations to Steve who won a Royal Television Society award last night for his documentary Batty Boy! Well done babe!
Anyway, I'd heard of this club, but never been inside which is odd considering my Soho drinking career had led me to some very, very salubrious joints over the last 30 years. I knew that my art idol Francis Bacon drank there back in the day, Jeffrey Bernard was a regular, along with just about every other London character ever. I was dying to see what it looked like!
It was so small that they have to have the green room upstairs in a Japanese restaurant across the road and that was where I met Steve. The other guests were Jools Holland, Lisa Stansfield and The Dirty Pretty Things. We met Suggs who I feel like I know, but don't. I guess its cos I've watched him grow up really. I remember getting into see one of Madness's early gigs at the Nashville in West Kensington when John Lydon couldn't!
Jools I haven't seen to talk to since Malcolm Hardee's 50th birthday which has gotta be about eight or nine years ago now. I knew there was no chance he'd remember or even recognise me - I don't look much like I did back then! So I introduced myself and reminded him. It was great to catch up and reminisce about a great mate.
The show was filmed with an audience and gawd knows how we all managed to get into this teeeeeny tiny room!!!!! It might be a member's club, but the Colony sure aint no Soho House!!! I loved it tho. All bright green gloss paint on the walls and paintings, cuttings, sketches etc from the illustrious members over the years. It was sooo grungy and seedy. One other thing it was, was HOT!!!! It was hot before they put they lights on and almost unbearable when they did! Thank god I am half the woman I was. I had a slight glow and no more, not like some of the people around me who were sweating buckets!
The recording went fairly smoothly, Steve was hilarious, as was Jools. Suggs is an excellent host who made it all look very easy. Dirty Pretty Things were fantastic, I really wanna go see them do a full gig now. Lisa - I suspect - had been making good use of the rider...it'll be interesting to see how much makes it on screen when the show goes out! She and Jools did a version of My Baby Just Cares For Me which was fabulous tho.
The night was rounded off with drinks in the All Bar One with Johnny Vegas who was down to do show two, and a bit of sushi...how showbiz am I???????
Following my all too brief sojourn in the theatre, it's back to the circuit with a vengeance! MC'ing the Comedy Cafe, with one of the strongest bills I've ever introduced there - Steve Williams (who I saw perform for the first time and who I totally loved watching!), the gorgeous Nick Revell and the fabulous Ricky Grover. Thursday we had the addition of a new - to me - act called Steve Whiner who was just amazing too, bonus!
The Cafe used to be a bit of a comedy battleground back in the day. The crowds were lairy and it was always an "us and them" situation. Not any more, and certainly not this weekend! It was just incredibly laid back, and the kinda gig where you could try out a half formed idea and turn it into a routine over the course of three gigs. Which is exactly what happened to me and I was only the MC! I've come away with a blinding new gag and a whole new routine! How fantastic.
I was talking on Saturday night to Nick about the vibe in the room, and he said a lot of it was down to the tone I set as MC - which was very kind of him. I said it reminded me of a gig that used to run in Islington called the Meccano Club. You could go there with an idea and try it out and the audience would give you the space to do that. It makes for a special evening for both act and audience alike.
So that was all marvellous. The daytimes were pretty good too, bit of shopping, some beauty treatments, and a meeting on Saturday in Wimbledon with a representative of the company who are organising my 'surgery holiday' to Malaysia in October.
As the NHS cannot even sit down to discuss whether or not to pay for most of the surgery I need to rid myself of the rest of the loose skin, I've turned to a company called Gorgeous Getaways. The prices are incredible, a fraction of UK charges, but that's not the reason I am using them particularly. In addition to a far longer stay in hospital than you get here, you also get recovery in a 5 star hotel, with a nurse coming to see you every day to help you wash and change your dressings and anything else you might need. As a single woman, this is the kind of aftercare I need.
The package I've chosen is wonderful, two weeks recovery in Kuala Lumpur - which I am so excited about visiting - and then seven nights in am spa resort in Malaysia where they have an orangutang sanctuary!!!!! Plus, the nurse etc! How cool is that???? Massages and monkeys!!!!!!!!!
Sunday evening saw me getting all dressed up and heading off to the Colony Room in Soho. My pal Stephen K Amos was filming a tv show called 'Suggs in the City' there. Incidentally a huge congratulations to Steve who won a Royal Television Society award last night for his documentary Batty Boy! Well done babe!
Anyway, I'd heard of this club, but never been inside which is odd considering my Soho drinking career had led me to some very, very salubrious joints over the last 30 years. I knew that my art idol Francis Bacon drank there back in the day, Jeffrey Bernard was a regular, along with just about every other London character ever. I was dying to see what it looked like!
It was so small that they have to have the green room upstairs in a Japanese restaurant across the road and that was where I met Steve. The other guests were Jools Holland, Lisa Stansfield and The Dirty Pretty Things. We met Suggs who I feel like I know, but don't. I guess its cos I've watched him grow up really. I remember getting into see one of Madness's early gigs at the Nashville in West Kensington when John Lydon couldn't!
Jools I haven't seen to talk to since Malcolm Hardee's 50th birthday which has gotta be about eight or nine years ago now. I knew there was no chance he'd remember or even recognise me - I don't look much like I did back then! So I introduced myself and reminded him. It was great to catch up and reminisce about a great mate.
The show was filmed with an audience and gawd knows how we all managed to get into this teeeeeny tiny room!!!!! It might be a member's club, but the Colony sure aint no Soho House!!! I loved it tho. All bright green gloss paint on the walls and paintings, cuttings, sketches etc from the illustrious members over the years. It was sooo grungy and seedy. One other thing it was, was HOT!!!! It was hot before they put they lights on and almost unbearable when they did! Thank god I am half the woman I was. I had a slight glow and no more, not like some of the people around me who were sweating buckets!
The recording went fairly smoothly, Steve was hilarious, as was Jools. Suggs is an excellent host who made it all look very easy. Dirty Pretty Things were fantastic, I really wanna go see them do a full gig now. Lisa - I suspect - had been making good use of the rider...it'll be interesting to see how much makes it on screen when the show goes out! She and Jools did a version of My Baby Just Cares For Me which was fabulous tho.
The night was rounded off with drinks in the All Bar One with Johnny Vegas who was down to do show two, and a bit of sushi...how showbiz am I???????
Labels: Gigs
posted by JoJo Smith at Tuesday, June 17, 2008
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