08/04/05 Tum te tum

Well yesterday was the Pope's funeral. It was the hottest global showbiz party going.
Everybody who was anybody was there. It was all very spectacular. Tremendous pageantry. Of course, being brought up as a Church of Scotland protestant, my social/environmental ubringing programming in Glasgow causes me to slightly bristle at all this theatrical Roman Catholic display of colour and symbolism.
The protestant ethos is that everything should be drab and formal, ideally with a cold wind chilling your bones at the same time.
We seem to be moving away from this now though. Since Diana's funeral it has become quite common to hear applause at funerals. Now that is VERY catholic. But I like it.
Sorry Grandpa! :-)
I've taken the plunge and booked a 2 week slot (plus 3 previews) for the 2005 Fringe, at the Roman Eagle Lodge on Johnston Terrace. We've got the 9.30 - 11.00pm slot which I think is a good one.
It's exciting to have a show scheduled, but also a little terrifying, and I anticipate a series of panic attacks in the middle of the night between now and August.
I need to get a solid 20 minutes of material sorted. At the moment I have only 10.
It's quite ambitious to undertake this considering I've only been seriously gigging for 6 months. I reckon though that if you have something to aim at, you'll progress much quicker. I could totally fall flat on my arse with this if I'm not properly prepared.
Anyway, just been offered another 10 gigs at The Stand in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
This is good. However, I'll have to be brave and use a lot of these gigs to perform untried material, and run the risk of dying. There is no alternative. I wouldn't use untested material in a Fringe show. That's asking for trouble.
Do you get annoyed by tabloids trying to reflect perceived public outrage?
For the record, just about everybody I've spoken to thought that Price Charles "overheard" comments about Nicholas Witchell were hilarious and brought credit to his character judgement, and furthermore, the spectacle of Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer fighting was a fantastic piece of slapstick comedy, hugely enjoyed by the public at large.
I saw a much worse bout of sustained fisticuffs during the recent Wales v Ireland rugby match. Bill McLaren used to call this type of thing "foolishness". He was right. It is not the end of the world.