Blog: Weekend X-TREME

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You find me this morning WORN and SPENT and quite frankly KNACKERED, as it's been a Long Old Weekend. I had PARENTS in town on Friday night, so The Drink In My Glass and I took them to the PUB, then a very nice restaurant (yes) and then the PUB again. It was lovely, though we must, i think, BOTH have had some Tesco Hummus or something mixed in, as Low Level Poorliness was in evidence... there can be no other explanation.

Then it was HO! for Covent Garden, where we met them for LUNCH in a pub above a Pastie Shop - it was Surprisingly Nice, i must say, the beer was GOOD the food was GRATE and the sun was OUT, and as we were sat out on the balcony it all felt rather SUMMERY.

After lunch I headed North to distant NOTTINGHAM, where I was booked to play a birthday DO for some of the Bowlie Kids. I popped to MARKS AND SPARKS on the way to get some TEA, watched The Dinosaur Programme, then went to the PUB where it was all going on. I had a LOVELY evening, there were loads of people there I hadn't seen for a while, including The Chemistry Experiment, and in between the talking and that I did the following SET:

The Peterborough All-Saints' Wide Game Team (Group B)

My Boss Was In An Indie Band Once

It Only Works Because You're Here

Red & White Sockets

The Gay Train

Hey Hey 16K

Vicar In A Tutu

The Lesson Of The Smiths

Easily Impressed

Boom Shake The Room

Billy Jones Is Dead

I THOROUGHLY enjoyed myself, tho aspects of the evening were ODD. There was no PA system, so I did the whole gig Totally Unplugged, which I always REALLY enjoy, but it did mean that when people FANTASTICALLY - started clapping along, I couldn't actually hear what I was singing! ALSO i was stood in the middle of the room, with a DANCE FLOOR behind me, so when people DID go and have a dance I had to keep turning round to look at them, especially when I noticed that everyone else was doing so. ALSO I'd stood on some steps which I thought led up to a Private Area but ACTUALLY went up to some Additional Seating, where a whole BUNCH of people were sat, so throughout the set people had to keep squeezing past me on the way to the bar/loo and back.

It was a bit odd but in the end made for FUN and LARKS, also GOOD TIMES, and a rollicking good time was had by ME. Afterwards there was a whole lot more CHAT, also a little bit of dancing, and it was QUITE LATE when I eventually got back to my PLUSH HOTEL and my bed.

It was thus not very long before I was woken AGAIN - I'd set my alarm for 6am as it was Rail Replacement Bus Services from Nottingham down to Leicester, which took longer and longer the later in the day you waited, and I had things to DO. I got showered, packed and nipped downstairs where it took me several minutes to WAKE UP the guy who was sat on reception. He wasn't much help when he DID wake up either, as he seemed unable to work the computer, so in the end I had to leave my Door Entry Card and RUN to the station - if i'd got up that early i did NOT want to end up missing the BUS!

The next four hours featured A bus, a train, a couple of tubes and a WALK and then I was home again. I had a bit of an old NAP, some LUNCH, and before long I was out YET AGAIN and heading for ANGEL there to do a VIDEO SHOOT.

Oh yes, GET ME! This was for the video to "Hang Up The Moon" by The Fighting Cocks, from off of there forthcoming/GRATE new album "Songs For Lapdancers". The song samples "Dino At The Sands (slight return)" from WE VALIDATE!, so Charlie wanted me to come along and pretend to play the Ukelele. I should FESS UP here and say that it's not actually ME playing it on the CD, it's Duke Marmapants, friend and mentor to Jimmy from The Bobby McGees - i tried to do it myself but really COULDN'T, but luckily when I arrived I found the the PLAYBACK PA was MUCH louder than my feeble attempts at TWANGING, so nobody noticed.

I stood around for a while and had a chat to various Fighting Cocks, also to the Actual Real-Live FILM CREW who were doing THE SHOOT - it was DEAD proper, they had a GURNEY (i think) for the camera to TRACK along and all sorts of things. Also there was a FILM CREW FROM JAPAN, there to interview the band. It was like... well, it was like being on a VIDEO SHOOT, As Seen In Motion Pictures, really.

After a while they were ready for me, so me and Charlie did three or four takes of me sitting on a bar stool playing while he flicked cards at the camera and sang the intro. That done I shook hands with the CREW and said "Nice working with you" (that's what you're supposed to say, i saw it ON TELLY) then headed off into the night, towards my TEA.

It felt like about a MONTH'S worth of Going Out And Doing ROCK, and by heck, it's done me in!

posted 19/2/2007 by MJ Hibbett

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Comments:

quality stuff, sounds like a GRATE weekend mark!
alex
posted 19/2/2007 by Anonymous

Thank you so much Mark. You made the party extra special brilliant. I hope our dancing wasn't too much of a distraction! Glad you enjoyed the evening. You certainly brought smiles to a large number of faces.

xx
posted 19/2/2007 by Obo-Bobolina

There were trains back to London on Sunday. I have thus renamed you Mark Fibber-t. DYSWIDT?
posted 19/2/2007 by James Coleslaw

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