Journal

Monday, March 29, 2004

Oh, gruntfuttocks...

Saw "Round the Horne -- Revisited" at the Venue theatre this evening, which, from the reviews, I was very much looking forward to. It was all faintly depressing: competently performed, but... well, I love Marty Feldman and Barry Took's Round the Horne radio show, broadcast between 1965 and 67, and I really don't much care for what I've heard of the final 1968 season, written by Took and Mortimer & Cooke. The show was assembled from material from the whole series by Brian Cooke, the only one of the original writers still alive, and it feels sort of lifeless and final seasony (which is sad: he has the whole of Round the Horne at his disposal). The audience consisted mostly of people older than me, who remembered the show from the first time around, with a smattering of gay male couples there probably because the Jules and Sand characters have achieved Iconic cult status. ("I'm a cult," Kenneth Williams said to me, in 1985. "I'm an enormous cult. People stop in the street and point to me and say look, it's that cult from the television.")

Still I was pleased by how visual people talking in front of microphones is, which bodes well for my not-the-life-of-Jack-Benny play, if I ever finish it.


Yet another FAQ message that is not at all a question but a sincere thank you. Thank you for posting the American dates of Thea's tour! Thanks to you I had the wonderful pleasure of seeing her when she played Eddie's Attic in Atlanta. You should also admonish all readers who did/do not catch a tour date of hers. They missed/are going to miss out on an absolutely wonderful show! She really is an amazing performer. I also got two of her currently not available in the US albums for $25. Last I checked they were going for about $30 a piece on/at Amazon and Tower Records. So, again, thank you! Thank you! Disappointed you weren't there (also noticed no mention of seeing her-- sorry you didn't/won't get to!), but I think the other two English guys sort of made up for it. Nigel Stonier is quite possibly the tallest extremely nice and skinny man I have ever met. And he has your hair. You might want to ask for it back. Sorry for all the forward slashes; I was trying to take into account all eventualities.


It's been really good to hear from all the people who went to see Thea. I was pleased that many of you went out, and sorry that more people didn't. Still, it's obvious that the ones who did got something very special and personal... (Here's Ryan's adventure.)

So, for those of you reading this in the New York area, she'll be performing the last gig of the tour on Wednesday at Joe's Pub 425 Lafayette Street, 212) 539-8778, at 7:30pm. Go and see her. If you tell her you heard about the gig from this journal she'll give you a signed postcard. Promise. Tell her and Nigel I said Hi. Go on. You know you want to.

Hi Neil, if you see this, or at least hi Julia --

Just a note to say that Neil Gaiman's Journal is today's Feedster Feed of the Day. ("Feed of the Day" is a service we do for Feedster users, pointing them toward a new or timely or under-appreciated or just plain unexpected RSS feed.)

I'll vote for you over Captain Jack Sparrow any day--even if he wrote novels, he's probably too stoned to blog them. I also love your Journal's fun opulent look--none of that fake-amateur sparseness, or what the heck are graphic designers for?

Hoping many click through to enjoy your work,
Betsy


Hurrah.

Follow-up to the dragon in a jar story from earlier this year...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/3576987.stm

Good thing you didn't need to do this. We'd have had sleeping sickness
cropping up in the early 20th Century, and echoes of Baghdad being
destroyed.

Oh. Hang on. Is there something you're not telling us?

Tom


Good lord, he said extremely drily, about the dragon. Who would ever have believed it?

...

The deadline being upon me, I wrote down a true story this morning, an anecdote from my schooldays, for Jon Scieszka's Guys Read project, for a fundraising book, and sent it off to him. His reply reads...

Neil,

This is perfect -- naked ladies, candy, and corporal punishment. All wrapped up in one cautionary tale. What could be more guy?

Thanks again for helping out. I'll keep you updated on the latest.

Jon


As for where you can read the true story of me (aged 11) itself, naked ladies, golden-glass-toffee, and corporal punishment included, as soon as I have the details of Jon's book I'll post them here.