No problems, No Mic, No audience. Gigs 74-76

Another 3 gig week saw me take my tally of gigs to 76 with some enjoyable outings including a last minute booking to fill in for Jed Salisbury at My Newt Comedy in Shipley, Mc at my own gig in Pudsey then ending the week at Distrikt in Leeds City centre.

Gig 74 My Newt Comedy
Daniel J Kennedy has started a gig in Shipley that he is currently testing the water with... it is based a a very small venue the waterside restaurant. i arrived straight from 5 a side football (I had showered) so was only in my scruffy trainers jeans and a shirt, not really smartly dressed to be presented to an audience but I have looked worse!
It was a lovely little venue I noted on arrival, Daniel was outside along with one of the other acts Judgement Dave who would be playing the character Gunther this evening. the venue manager was there also (Peter i think) and he was very welcoming ensuring we were comfortable relaxed and as Ryan Brown arrived he got us all a drink. It's great when venue managers are so welcoming but im not surprised he was in a great mood as Daniel had done a great job.. the place was rammed!
Other acts on the bill were the aforementioned with Ryan opening and Gunther in the middle along with Kate McCabe, Amy Gledhil, Karl White and Mark Rough. Daniel MC'd his 1st time doing so and it was immediately apparent that they were going to be a nice audience as they lapped up the jokes Daniel was throwing at them, Daniel is a great act but usually audiences take a bit more warming up... tonight they just went with it and opener Ryan with his one liners was also in great form and again the audience lapped it up, especially his deja vu joke. I went 2nd and after a slowish start I got going. They responded well to some of my new stuff (a couple of newer lines one of which was given to me by Jed Salisbury so ironic it was he I was replacing essentially telling one of his jokes). I came off stage feeling it gone 'ok' but Daniel was pleased with the performance so that was nice and Amy had arrived and she thought it went well for me so again pleased to hear. I could not stay to watch the rest but from what I hear Amy, Karl and Mark all had belters but everyone did well. a great night then I wish the gig well and hope to return one day.

Gig75 Portion of Quips
My second outing for the new portion of quips night in Pudsey and again I was pleased with the turn out.
There were around 40 people crammed into the venue to see Chris McIlroy, Dave McAndrew, Karl White and headliner Lewis Charlesworth.  it was a 90% new audience from last time which was good for me in the MC role because I could use some of the same jokes although I opted to be a resident MC so that I can sharpen my act and become a better comic. I feel I was a bit too repetitive with the who are you what do you do for a living shite that I kept on asking... I need to be a bit more like the best Mc's. Sully or Lewis at Mr bens For example find the level of the room and involve the audience by bringing them in with cleverly ad libbed back stories for them, for example they would see a guy with 2 girls and he would become some kind of pimp daddy. I hope to grow in confidence with that kind of MCing as I go along but for tonight I was trying to pick things about peoples names and jobs to work with although I inadvertently racially abused a Polish guy.... best not to do that again despite him seeing the funny side.... I think!
The audience were nice and its turning into a lovely gig but tonight they were a bit quieter than last gig although they were all clearly enjoying it especially given the comments I got after the gig. Chris was in the difficult opening role.... He did a great job with some nicely constructed jokes and a graphically described affair with a henrietta Hoover which was particularly funny. He also did well to say the room wasn't superbly well warmed up by me not least because the Mic had cut out and I hadn't realised although the issue was resolved for Chris... more on that in a moment. Dave Mac came on after the break, He had brought half the audience which was great. Dave was not at his absolute best but even so he nailed it, there were big laughs for his Tape player bit and his bit about the big hairy balls!! It seemed he was enjoying it up there too and the crowd certainly were enjoying him. Karl white followed, a unique act really he is almost jokeless as he just talks at the audience, they were laughing at his 1st word.. Hello!! and it went from there. The response was unanimous that he was brilliant. Lewis is an act I really like, mainly for his ability to just be daft. I know he mocks gong acts at MrBens when he MC's the gong show and some guys arent keen on this.. in fact my 1st ever gig he ripped me a bit and I was like, who's this c**t?? but I now see it as just part of the process of doing a gong and not a lack of respect from Lewis personally. He had to start the set without a Mic as the problems from earlier on my cheap (although still £100) PA system was not working properly still. Thankfully Lewis did not make a divaish big deal of this and went for it without the Mic initially and it was only a few mins before it came back to life. He did a great headline job, he worked the room a little and went through his routine with seamless execution. The audience were sat up awaiting what was coming next as the energy and silliness that Lewis provides were thoroughly entertaining. this was a great close to the show. I plugged next month and also plugged Sam Brady's Pudsey gig too as I do not want to compete with that rather more I want to compliment it. this brought a close to the night and I feel there could be a good future for this gig.

Gig 76 Adonis comedy
This was a new act new materiel night at Distrikt in Leeds. I had no idea what to expect but as I discussed with Thom Milson who is more advanced than me I need these nights still to become a better act. The nights where the audience are all up for it and we come away buzzing are 'easy' by comparison but we learn little from them. More established acts all know this and I am fast catching up with a train of thought that the difficult gigs are the ones where the craft is learnt. Thom does not need gigs like this as much but as he has had a short Hiatus and is in the new act of the year final at Mr Bens he needs the stage time hence also doing this.
There was almost no audience. about 6 or 7 i would say ( I didn't count but it was not double figures I'm sure). I chose just to practice my so called best 10 on this night and really did not learn much about myself as an act. I still enjoyed the gig as I seem to enjoy most gigs but I merely took from it nothing more than rehearsal, which is what promoter Tom basically offers. It is a gig that is worth doing for that reason but  little more promotion is needed to get an audience I would suggest. Tom was also talking of starting a Leeds comedy festival for the the little guys, the underground comedy circuit  a nice idea as the Leeds comedy festival that exists does not seem to acknowledge the little guy of comedy (I could be wrong). I guess watch this space for that. The other acts on show were MC Steve Garland who had a difficult job and did really well nicely confessing some of his secrets to his newish girlfriend, he had a difficult job to a small audience but did admirably. Thom Milson followed on from me and after a slow start by his standards he gained momentum with his stuff about living in the city being my favourite part. I could not stay so missed final act Mike Hewitson unfortunately.

Next gig for me is Mc at the national in Hull with Callum Scott.

A grand don't come for me Gigs71-73

Another busy week gigging with 3 coming this week thankfully as Nov and Dec i seem to have very few.
My 1st gig of this little trio was to be at the cult gig Hollybush in Cradley Heath so i'll start with the build up to that.

Gig 71
I had done the Cradley heath gig on my 16th outing in comedy. It was a long way to go from Leeds but I feel I need to travel in order to enjoy different gig experiences and meet different acts. I had on that occasion had a car full to save fuel costs and the plan was the same this time.... however this proved more difficult this time as 1st of all Rich Hodkin had to drop out due to getting through to the final of an xfactor style gig in Bolton.
He was then replaced, Dave McAndrew also had to drop out due to unforeseen circumstances so another replacement was found, this being Dave Rivers, Rich's replacement also dropped out so I then replaced him however he then dropped out so another replacement was sought.... yes believe it or not he dropped out too so I needed a replacement for the replacements replacement!!! alas I had no time to find him and another of our original guys also dropped out very last minute meaning there would only be 2 of us with the only real down side of that being the pushing up of fuel costs slightly.

The journey to the gig, was just as troublesome as getting an entourage with it taking 1hr10 mins just to travel across Leeds! so we were a touch late getting out of Leeds, Sat nav didn't recognise the postcode or street name for the Bush and I was feeling ill too that along with the horrible traffic getting just as far as Sheffield.... it seemed like such a bad idea to press on but I had booked it and I hate to let people down.. plus this is the legendary Bush!
We eventually arrived about an hour late and Mc for the night Dave Dinsdale was welcoming. We grabbed a drink and settled into a seat, it looked quiet... about 10 people of which 6 were acts, but it filled up.
Dave did a superb job warming up the room, it was really enjoyable to watch him release puns and jokes along with audience interaction. Up 1st was a pro act testing new material, Will Marsh, he was brilliant... new material just seemed ten times better than anything i could do. very enjoyable. 2nd act was a magic act, there was no comedy in his short set, it revolved around 2 tricks really and some overly dramatic music. I assume he is new to the circle, a little refining later and I'm sure his act will be mesmeric. I was next, I had sensed the level of the room so went straight into my filthier stuff, I'm not a filthy act but I do have some stuff that would not work at a Christian gig! the Bush however seemed to really enjoy it and I had a lot of fun up there. Dave followed, his set is more slow paced than mine and has some really nice observations, he struggled at 1st to get the Bush on board but recovered it well with his tales of buying takeaway and a £2.99 breakfast. Sadly we had to leave at this point, I don't like to leave before a gig has ended but a 2.5 hour journey home meant I had to depart missing the final 2 acts, Lisa who's 1st words to me were can i sit on your face!!! and johnny P. I'm sure i will return to the Bush again soon.

Gig 72
This was at totally the other end of the spectrum to the Bush, It was for Anthony J Brown. I am pleased to be getting work from Anthony but tonight I don't think I did myself justice.
It was at Ilkley playhouse, in the studio theatre, a lovely venue and filled with a lovely audience... but that was the problem... they were too lovely, they did not like filth! Anthony got the best from the audience as MC. Elliot J Huntley was opening, I saw Elliot Mc the wonderful Gainsborough gig and really liked what he was about, but he seemed to struggle slightly not in a performance sense, his performance was flawless but but more in a sense of getting anything from the room. He did clean up his set a touch but i still dont think the audience were expecting anything dirty and one guy even stated 'my wife doesnt like vulgarity'.... well lets hope your girlfriend does otherwise you are missing out!! sadly i was not able to say that out loud!
Next on was Nick Parry, nick is an excellent act and really does impress with his one linery goodness delivered by a scary stare! he did fine in this awkward room which is why when I went on I thought I can relax a bit now.... i basically died on my arse... they were having none of it! I started telling the tale of when I was mistaken for a paedophile (based loosely on truth) and built up into my Otley stuff (neither of which they liked) my thoughts turned to getting off stage but I wanted to try and recover and impress Anthony... Fail!!! I went into the big julie bit and they just stared at me silently!! Bugger me!!!

Headline Archie Kelly did at least provide the real laughs with his simple easy material brilliant pieced together and expertly delivered. This the second time I had gigged with him and the second time I really enjoyed his stuff.

Gig 73
This was a competition gig to win a grand and a set on Hallam FM (im not sure if that set would be on the radio or not?) apparently 400+ people applied by sending in a video and the 'finalists' were selected from these videos. There were 8 finalists, Myself, Tony Basnet, Steve Rimmer, Alistair Greaves, Kate Yossarian, Steven Shaw, Daniel Nicholas and Jed Salisbury.
it was taking place at Owlerton dog track in the function room above the grandstand. There was lots of Hallam FM Pr, a photo shoot and waivers to sign for the usage of any footage. It is easy to convince newbie acts to sign up to this kind of thing when there is a grand at stake!! The running order was then revealed and it was me on 1st, my heart sank... any chance of winning was just hugely reduced! I am not one to blame outside factors though and I would try just as hard to be as good as I can be. The Mc Justin Moorehouse made a point of saying how hard it is to go 1st and on I went, I couldn't really see the audience given how bright the lights are, but I could hear them.... they weren't laughing!! and stupidly i let this effect me, Tony Basnet summed it up saying that you are still playing to the audience and not the judges but I knew a I trudged off that I had done terrible, and I felt pretty bad about it like i had let myself down not because i did not put myself in with a winning chance but because i did not impress people who book comedy!!
Tony Basnet followed, I had met him once before and not surprised he did not remember who i was as he was very distant that night, His set was nice, he was getting laughs so it confirmed to me that it was not the audience that caused me to have a stinker!! he ended superbly with a fake band that must be seen to be enjoyed. Steve Rimmer followed, Steve's usual confidence seemed to be missing slightly  I have only ever seen him storm it but tonight he was not the usual cheeky chap. His equipment let him down too which was a shame as all in all the set didnt do him justice. Alistair Greaves was next, and had a real pleasant demeanour on stage. his jokes were nice and all in all a good set, i would suggest however that he like me was a bit nervous? it appeared that way but i could be wrong.
after the break Kate Yossarian our only girl finalist went on and talked confidently about working in the construction environment. she also had songs about it and switched between musical and spoken jokes. following on was Steven Shaw who talked about space and his observations on how space is perceived. it was a decent set but long set ups meant that he struggled to get a great response from the audience. Follwing him was eventual winner Daniel Nicholas (it could be Nicholls and I'm sorry of it is but Justin Moorhouse who clearly didnt want to be there used both and im not sure which surname was correct)
Daniel was dead pan, one liner and very clever with the way he worked his stuff. he also had good audience interaction which is not always something you see with one liner comedians. Very much a deserved winner.
Jed Salisbury was last on, He was Jed... the usual, funny, energetic, brilliant! i love Jed's stuff and I thought he was in with a shout of winning but when the judges returned they were unanimous in their decision with what they called commendations coming for myself, Jed and Tony Basnet.
I had not enjoyed it really, I just think I have performed badly for an act on 70+ gigs. Consistency is what I now need to work on.

Next Gig is my Pudsey one, back into MC mode.

Bitesize chunks of giggyness Gigs65-70

I haven’t had a lot of spare time but since my last blog I have surpassed the 70 gig mark somehow!

The month of October looked quiet on the gig front then all of a sudden I had Baby Jupiter Weds 3^rd, Manchester Weds 10^th Gainsborough Thurs 11^th Driffield Fri 12^th Hartlepool Sat 13^th then Manchester again (different gig) Mon 15^th so this blog will be broken into bitesize chunks I suppose to make it easier to read/write!

Baby Jupiter gig65

A new act new material night called Generic comedy night took the place of CUT UP, it was run by Anthony Murphy (who I accidentally called Murray in a previous blog).

I cant say too much about the gig, I went on last and was awful!! Callum Scott was excellent doing some shouty new stuff and I thought Si Finnigan really did what was needed to give a lacklustre night a kick up the arse. Baby Jupiters staff are not supportive, the music levels kept going up there was lots of loud talking and they generally did not care there was a gig going on... enough said really.

Manchester gig 66

Comedy Balloon had a spot going and DaveRivers was able to drive so I jumed on this gig last minute to try some new material out. Joe White was MCing I noted on arrival. He was actually a lot more relaxed and pleasant this time, the sarcastic attitude last time probably just nerves. Liam Pickford was on along with a guy named Will Sketchel who was nice and chatty (this time it was me sat quiet)

I went on 1^st, did a distinctly average job and didn’t learn anything really other than the new stuff needs a lot of work still. Dave went on 2^nd and also tried some new stuff, likewise he struggled to get a lot from the audience but did a nice job nonetheless. We both then left as the 1^st section was brought to a close, the 1^st time I have ever left before the end of show but not the last I imagine.

Gainsborough Gig 67

I had been told by people who have done this that it is a nice gig..... they were not wrong. I travelled with Dave McAndrew as usual and driving through the rain we got a little lost on arrival in Gainsborough, stopping to ask for directions we happened to find Bob Carolgees (minus spit the dog) who pointed us towards what looked like a church. In the entry foyer was a guy with a guitar, this was Elliot the MC, he recognised I must be Jim and greeted me showing me into the theatre... Theatre!! Yes it was a converted church into a 200 seat beautiful theatre. Elliot showed me the green room while Dave had a smoke... exited much!! I was warned however it might not be too busy. I went back out to find Dave and i was buzzing... I’m an open spot I don’t do theatres!!! Dan Bland one of the 2 Pro acts had arrived too. Dan was to open and we all chatted in the backstage... yeah backstage green room. The running order was to be Dan 20 mins, break, me 10 min Dave 10 min then Sol Bernstein 30 min headline. Elliot who was a very welcoming and pleasant guy came to call Dan in for the show to begin, its busy too he said, i went to sit in the theatre and noted around 100 people. Dan has a slow paced set, the jokes come from no where, the audience were loving it. Elliot had done a song to warm them up that he was worried about but it worked a treat and Dan was keeping the laughs going at a nice pace. I was suddenly worried, Im not professional enough to do this gig!! Shit!! All through the break and right up until going on I was shaking!! Steve who plays Sol Bernstien had arrived and was chatting away, a really nice and humble bloke, but it didn’t set me at ease.... Dan was great how can I follow... about to find out.

I walked out and dropped my distinctly average opener, a small laugh. I moved to chicken, a few more laughs, I went through the hometown stuff and family bits which are the bits i hate the most from my set, they giggled a little. But I was shocked at how much they loved the big Julie story... they were howling!! Wow i felt great! I came off buzzing! Dave Mac next. Dave was straight into his stride.... he was a lot more comfortable up there than me but not only that his jokes were landing exactly as they should. He was storming it! A great performance.

Steve was waiting to go on, he was now in costume as Sol. He had been very complimentary of Dave and I and having seen his set I felt very humbled... he was brilliant! So professional owning the stage. He got an en core that was fully deserved, it was 30 mins of brilliant comedy. Amazing and ending a superb night.. well almost ending, as usual the drive home with Dave included additional comedy.. he was talking of his ex wife which included some notes she wrote him on how he should behave which was hilarious!! And that ended one of my best night in comedy so far.

Driffeild gig 68

Andy Woolston put this gig on but like with my George gig and Baby Jupiter it was without support from the landlord. England were playing San Marino on the night too and there was a feeling in the car on the way there that this may not be a great night. It actually was a nice room and I enjoyed the gig although i tried some variations on my set and a new bit none of which were all that good! I travelled with HOWL, Jon Newall coming along to support. Andy was MC with Steve Rimmer and Live Naked idiots also performing. Jed was there to support too. The night kind of started on a misogynistic note and ended on a homophobic one. Some acts have materiel like this i’m not sure how ok it is? Andy seemed a bit down about how the night went but despite losing money on the gig he still paid our fuel to the tune of £20 which as stated by Si was a classy move. It was not as well attended as hoped but I still enjoyed the gig and having the opportunity to play with my material.

Hartlepool gig 69

I arrived in Hartlepool on a Saturday night expecting a choca rib ticklers gig run by Nick Banks, it was however not so busy due to a beer festival. There was enough in to enjoy myself though. Nick was waiting in the bar when I arrived as was Headliner Naz Osmanoglu (oz-man-oh-low). Naz had been on Russel Howards good news recently something I hadn’t twigged at 1^st and given his pleasant welcome i though i must have gigged with him before? Then I saw the poster... ah no, i know him offof the telly!! Bobby Murdoch opened with a nice set following on from Nicks MCing. There were about 15 people in so it was a nice atmosphere and a nice audience.Nick strange went 1^st after the break with a quick set then it was me. I did my best 10 and had a nice reception, I enjoyed it. Following me was a Lady with a guitar, i feel awful as I cant remember her name but she was excellent. Naz took the final section and showed a professional extra bit of class. The energy he put into his set and the delivery of each line daft tho they were was superb. A nice bloke and a great act!

Gig 70

Frog and Bucket World series Manchester.

World series is the title but it was just local acts 4 heats of 8 looking for a place in the final. Daniel J Kennedy was my lift there the mega bus was my lift home... an hour late tho it was!!!

Manchester is a bit clicky if you don’t know anyone. They are not unfriendly when chatting to them (them being the Manchester acts) but they are not inclusive. This is ok and normal but It did not help my nerves, for some reason the gong format of the night had put me on edge. Performing in order were Freddy quin finalist, Catherine Scott 2min 35 gonged Elaine Stewart gonged 2.05 Daniel Kennedy BTF and was awesome Break Me BTF but was ropey.. I was very ropey, rushed my set too much didn’t chose my jokes well and really did not deliver properly. But i beat the frog... into submission almost!! David Stanier was next gonged at about 2.45 i think Clarence frank finalist was superb and then Jack Evans who made just over a minute but was harshly gonged really.

So I felt like I learnt again, don’t worry about other acts you think to be better than you (Stanier, Evans) the trick is to just do your stuff and wory not about the uncontrollable such as the gong or the other acts. Another lesson learnt in the north west!

Up next Cradley Heath

Shake but no fries gig64

Gong shows are a topic of debate amongst open mic comics, some hate them some love them some prefer not to do them some only do them, for me they are a great way to gig in front of a crowd as usually gong shows have better attendances than open mic nights.

In the past I have participated at Mr Bens with the intention of winning but tonight I just wanted to beat the gong as I was doing ‘new’ material. Now I know that as a comic who has only been gigging for just over 6 months all my material is new but this was the result of my breakdown the other week and some of my writing since then I had crafted into a set using an older narrative to bend the material round. Beating the gong would not be easy with my worry not being unfunny (it would help if people find it funny) but forgetting my material, and to make matters worse I arrived at the club to find I was going on 1^st so no time to sit and allow it to sink in.

Opening tonight would be the wonderful Julie Jones and the insane Mark Hayden so at least I knew they would be warmed up, that and the fact that Sully O Sullivan was at the helm meant I would know what the level of the room would be as sully is excellent at finding that.

I sat on my own and desperately made last minute notes on a piece of paper and the back of my hand to help me through the set, another act was sat next to me but I barely acknowledged him as I nervously went through my set... I was shaking!!! Silly arse!! Why am i shaking?? What a dick!! was it because I havent eaten? what kind of excuse is that? I haven’t been this nervous since my 1^st week of gigging, I was so self involved I barely looked away from my paper during Julie and Mark’s sets.... and now before I knew it, it was time!

Sully selected the card bearers, the audience members with the power to decide if my new stuff was shite. It was full and not all students so a good crowd to gig to, I have no idea why I was so worried about doing a new set..maybe the setbacks of a few weeks ago have me doubting myself more than usual or maybe i’m just over reacting and should man up!

I walked on to the stage when hearing my name, I had not seen where the cards went but I looked round and spotted 2 of them. I tried to keep an eye on the card bearers as I went through my set steadily. Whilst laughs were not aplenty they were fairly loud and I knew at grace I was doing ok which settled me into my stride a bit. My latter part I had performed already on 2 occasions so now it was not as new as the earlier part it was my 1^st time ever performing (the 1^st 3 mins all never before done) I beat the gong... I have no idea if any cards went up but I had done it and I was chuffed, especially as so many people I respect were there such as the HOWL guys and some of Pigeon Hole, these guys all young intelligent talented and I wanted to be on a par with them.

Following me on was Loz Whittaker who went about his set slowly building into better jokes, as with most acts straight after me I didn’t take it all in but even with an additional card holder added he went through uncarded, George Stride followed, i like George having seen him twice before and thinking he looks so natural for comedy. Tonight he did the same set but was a cut above. He was sharper, the set tighter, easily through the gong. Joseph Tarpey went next, he set himself up for a fall slightly with the way he tackled racism but I think it may have been the audience reaction that didn’t help, I would imagine there was better to come from him but tonight he was gonged. Our final act of section 1 had gone!! He just disappeared so an audience member who is also a magician came to the stage and performed in his place for a giggle, he ws not in the gong but did a lovely job.

Thom Milson opened the 2^nd section, Thom is a finalist in the new act of the year competition for winning the gong show twice (my regular readers will realise that this also means I too am a finalist...Nov 26^th be there support all the acts (not just me)) with this i mind Thom too was trying things out but he was never able to get his rhythm as there was talking then a drunk girl kicked over a bottle both on her way to and then from the bar. Thom of old may have let that bother him but Thom of today knows he is a quality act and was able to rise above it and beat the gong despite not being in full flow, I would not wish to sound condescending but Thom has really improved his self belief making him such a better act. Tash Rebuck followed, a London act and to use her words ‘token vagina’ she had an odd set but odd tho it was (yet more racism references) she nailed it, milking the fact she was different from the testosteroney previous acts. It was very enjoyable to watch and she seemed to be having fun which made it even better. Jacob Rawcliffe followed, its often tough to follow an act that has just done well but Jacob is the type of guy that can just handle things. He likes football but looks like he shouldn’t, kind of a walking antistereotype although that word does not exist and im not even sure what I mean by it! Jacob is definitely a very talented comic though, intelligent articulate and funny..very funny, and he casually nailed his set. Awesome! Dean Mavros was the penultimate act, i like Deans stuff, I like his thought process and I like his lack of fear. Dean has an aggressive persona on stage but warmth flows from the jokes making his punch lines stronger. He was comfortably through too leaving only one act to go.

Jon Newall..... I need not repeat past comments about Jons wonderful brain and writing, He was doing great tonight too but he was heckled by the same drunk girl who gave Thom a clinky accidental heckle. This was no accident! It was direct and when jon dealt with it she just fired again which threw him off and sadly he never recovered despite the subject of women in 50’s clothing being cleverly worked.

The winner was a joint effort from Jacob and Tash, both getting great cheers from the crowd at the clap off.

I had already had a great night and was back feeling good about my comedy when I got two boosts, one being Sully recommending me to a gig booker which is awesome and I’m hugely grateful and the other being the nice comments from  some of the other acts and from spectator on the night Mickey Sterret. It was nice to know i’m going in the right direction.

I’m happy with the night but under no illusions i’m anywhere near good enough or able to stop working as hard. Luckily I have another gig on Weds where I can work the new material as the baby Jupiter night returns under new stewardship and not connected with HOWL. Anthony Murray has taken control and i will be doing a closing 10. (this is not a headline or anything and my CV will not read ‘headlined baby jupiter’) i am looking forward to it nonetheless.