Monday 21 May 2007

It was a very busy week last week. I went to Spain for a few gigs. I slept in for my flight, so instead of getting a taxi to the airport I drove, checked in on time and flew to my destination.
A resort that was, to say the least a bit of a shit hole. The hotel was nice and the Rep assigned to look after me was helpful as he listened to me whinge about the amount of kids running around and that under no circumstances would I set foot on that stage if there was one child in the audience. I had a snooze and woke up in a much better mood. The place looked nicer by night, I had some good food and whiled away the hours before my gig having couple of beers.
The gigs themselves were fantastic. As the Madeleine story was hot in the news a lot of parents weren't using the baby listening service so a small (50/60+) crowd were there for late night cabaret. What can I say they got the Motormouth experience and loved it. Over the course of the next few days I started to recognise some of my punters and as the nights went on the crowd swelled. I'll definitely be going back.
In true Roughy style the bus taking me to the airport didn't turn up so I had an extra couple of days in the sun while my missus sorted out a return flight...oh dear!. Now most blokes getting themselves in that situation would be looking forward to a few deaf and dumb breakfasts, but no Lorri pulled out all the stops and got me home with a minimum level of fuss and no ear ache. She's an amazing woman.

So sandwiched in between a couple of Rugby league sporting dinners I had what I could only describe as one of the most challenging gigs of my career. When acts are described as "self contained" it means that we bring our own sound system when needed. that's not a problem, I don't own one as I never get asked to bring it any more. For a gig for a new agent I was asked to be self contained for a show in Liverpool. I borrowed one from my apprentice JS (thank you young 'un!) but on turning up at the gig it was in a very small room for roughly 30+ people. I wish it had been a big enough gig to warrant a PA system! It was a strange one. A corporate for a company that had been holding a week long conference in Liverpool for people from all over the world. They invited them to Anfield (a beautiful venue ) for dinner and entertainment. At least a fifth of my audience were American..oh dear again! The company organising the conference were lovely people, I had dinner with them as I nervously awaited being introduced, I knew what the pitfall were going to be, an intimate crowd, loads of Americans who wouldn't get my cultural references and me not being sure what levels of rudeness I could achieve. The gig itself was OK, that's all, just OK. The crowd were nice and sometimes forgiving of me, they could see what a difficult job it was. They laughed, they groaned they hissed when I was naughty but all in all I thought I did a decent job. However!...just as I write this, the agent has rang and said that he'd heard second hand that the client wasn't too happy. I'm not sure as yet but I shall keep you, dear reader informed.
FTM!

Thursday 10 May 2007

Long drive home yesterday, Lorri and I had spent the previous evening sorting our future out and it certainly looks exciting and a challenge I'm really looking forward to. It's strange being in Love and having someone to share the good times and bad..I'm just glad it's her!

Got to Leeds for my gig last night, I love Leeds. Even on a wet and miserable Wednesday night the city was buzzing. The gig itself was a strange one. It was the first for a new agent of mine so I was eager to impress. The deal was that some students at Leeds Met University, as part of their Marketing course were required to put on a nights entertainment, hire the venue, sell the tickets, book the acts and make a profit. I was duly booked and turned up to find an empty venue. I had supper in Wetherspoons (what a shit hole Wetherspoons = the new Brewsters!) and when I returned the venue was sold out! They'd done a fantastic job in promoting the evening and even though there was very little "performance" room that didn't seem to matter as I really enjoyed the gig. The lads and lasses went out of their way to make me comfortable and they got the assembled throng nice and warmed up and quiet ready for me. It was a strange gig, playing almost exclusively to 18 year olds, some of my references went over their heads but they really got into the spirit of the evening. Their tutors were there to assess the evening and they got some of the "in jokes". My favourite bit of the night was when 3 girls dressed as ninja turtles (students, wacky ey?) walked past me to go the loo. I announced them as "Dennis Wise and his back room staff at Leeds United" this got a roar of approval as being students, none of them were from Leeds!
The drive home wasn't too bad and it was straight to bed with a drink and the days papers while they no doubt were dancing the night away...I'm getting old!
I'm off to Spain tomorrow for three gigs, back on Monday. I hope it's warm
FTM!

Tuesday 8 May 2007

Having celebrated the title win on Sunday, we had, what started out as a night out in Aberdeen. Lorri had been really poorly through the week and I know it was a struggle for her to go out, but she said she felt up to it and was sick of staring at four walls to be honest. We'd decided to go to a lovely comedy club at a venue we know and love. I was toying with the idea of doing a cheeky ten minutes to keep my hand in, but the bill looked very good and full. On arriving it was packed and there were no seats. The promoter, a lovely chap said I could do ten minutes but would I like to compere? I declined, I don't like compering comedy clubs, I neither have the patience or the style to do it. It then turned out that he'd asked the headliner ( A top Scottish Comic and former Perrier nominee) to M.C. the evening and asked me to headline it. So a night out turned into work. The crowd were boisterous but our Perrier friend compered with such ease and guile he had them laughing in all the right places and respectful of the acts.

I was slightly concerned, this was, after all, Scotland, who don't always love English comics and Iwas wearing my "Mackems,- Ramones" T-shirt! I was introduced in a lovely way and the crowd actually believed they were getting a real treat they weren't expecting. I stormed the gig, they loved me and my t-shirt. Lorri was beaming with pride when I came off stage and I was surrounded by admiring Aberdonians. I suppose my fear of Scottish audiences is unwarranted and it made me think long and hard about extending the stuff I do up here.We then got very, very drunk!

Back home tomorrow, oh well!
FTM!

Sunderland AFC: Football League Champions 2006-07

What a fantastic achievement from the boys in red and white.
Thank you Niall Quinn, thank you for everything. The magic carpet has taken off!
FTM!