Helloooo! I have a new blog http://john nyluddite.blogspot.com/ if you fancy having a look. Two things up so far with more on the way

I knew of Timberlake Wertenbaker in the 90s, she is an American writer and her material then dealt with aspects of working class life, industrial life in particular, and she was percieved as 'a woman's writer'. The tutor of Sarah's that I knew was the only tutor I didn't like. We had this argument over an Edward Bond play and I found her a hard person to get along with. Trevor Griffiths (the Comedians) was head of our department, and David Hare (The Romans In Britain, etc) was a guest lecturer, so we had mostly great people. Apparently Sarah had a problem with her as well, that was the one thing we ever found out, but no specifics. Ads an odd aside, I joined the degree course late, they let me do it in two years instead of three because of my pro experience, etc, but if I had of been in the first year one of my fellow students would have briefly been Sinead O'Connor, who wanted to study theater and signed up for the degree course but dropped out after three months.

I will submit a play to direct, maybe one of my own, but I don't want to act at this level again. I was never that good or anything, but although I will play guitar with anyone just to keep on going years after I thought I had lost music for ever, amateur theatre here anyway can be so soul destroying. I did think of submitting 'Inherit The Wind' just to upset the religious loonies.

I saw Cleansed when it opened ast the Royal Court in 1998. At that time, I was still doing my rather late theater studies degree at North London Uni, and one of my tutors had also taught Sarah Kane at Bristol Uni. Knowing this particular lecturer, I can understand the whole University as concentration camp thing in that play.

As for the community theater company, they do try and put on some newer stuff as well as the standards. I played the father in 'Proof' last year for instance, in what I intend to be my last acting role. I might submit something contentious for the 09/10 season. Maybe Frozen, or Bleacher Bums. Theater is in short supply down our way. You get Broadway touring companies in Fresno and Bakersfield, a little experimental stuff in Bakersfield, but otherwise, community theater all the way till you hit L.A or San Francisco.

Do you like Timberlake Wertenbaker?

Have you ever seen any of Sarah Kane's plays? I saw her last one before she died. I like Autobahn. I was going to do the part where the guy has cussed at his wife in the market and is trying to talk his way out of it, only to dig himself in deeper and deeper.

Thanx for the support about the test (MRI brain scan). I am being a tad panicky today. I have gigs tomorrow and Saturday, so something to look forward to

All kinds of things are shaking here. Mormons tried to shut down the community theatre here (their move coincided with the opening of Neil LaBute's Autobahn which they hate!) It looks like they might buy the old theatre in town and want to stage musicals etc there. I suspect what they have planned is not what I would call 'community', i.e, theatre for and by the community.

My health is all over the shop right now. I have a test on Friday that is freaking me out but hopefully it will be cool.

I am working on a companion to my disappointment mix, this time the theme is satisfaction.

What's going on with you? Are you writing anything?

Hi beel,
Things are barely all right, and yes, I do! My stack of candy wraps is growing fast, I've almost filled an entire drawer (paying my homage to Science of Sleep). Now I just need something gorgeous to throw in there and I'm ready to post it.

How are your days?

Best,
Bea.

PS.
Today, my younger cousin gave me a framed picture of Daria Werbowy cut out from Vogue, and I simply adore it - I've been drooling over that particular shot for some time. My grandmother however walked in, called the model a shameless whore and told me to replace the picture with something "decent". I'm going mad here.

Good to hear from you. I was offline for a bit recently, and it was pretty nice! Things have not been good here lately, and it is all too easy to disappear into the net to avoid all the crap that really needs to be taken care of!

One thing I don't miss about England is jerks on trains. The London underground is full of them! Once, there was this respectable looking old woman on the tube late at night who took offence to me for some unknown reason and promptly told me to get out of the country and to go back home where I came from. I helpfully tried to point out that I was born and bred about three stops down the line, but she was certain that I was some kind of undesirable alien who needed repatriating.

I actually think that watching a firework display on TV that was happening a few blocks away is pretty cool! It's shame we couldn't watch our work on TV so we didn't have to go.

As for the meaning of life, I tend to go with the one suggested at the end of Monty Python's Meaning Of life movie. Something about trying to read a few good books, travel a bit and try not to be too horrible to anyone. That probably isn't what it said at all, but it seems to work for me. As to why people suck, they suck because they can!

How are you? Hope you are ok

Bonjour,

Yeah, I have the web pages but nothing on them as yet. I am working on a couple of mixes myself. Did you see my Bo Diddley mix. It was a spur of the moment tribute thing but it kept me quiet for an hour. I am exhausted. In the last twenty four hours I have gone from Porterville to Ventura to San Diego to Ventura and back home again due to family emergencies. It is approaching triple digits here and I have a four set gig this evening from six in the open air, or what passes for air in the Central Valley.

I am looking forward to next weekend more because a friend from London, Pete Brown, will be over working in LA for a couple of weeks. He is the guy who wrote the lyrics for Cream and Jack Bruce songs back in the day and he is a very rare thing in the music biz, an honest decent funny person. Anyway, he is over mixing an album and we will meet up. He is staying at the Chateau Marmot on Sunset which is very rock and roll but of course not as fab gear and groovy as the Econo Lodge I can afford! Anyhow, I am really looking forward to seeing him.

Meanwhile, have a great weekend, enjoy the mix making and I will try not to expire in the bloody heat.

Nope. No big freakin' bag. It's OK, though, jelly beans are just amazing.

Wow. That's very healthy and very Asian and very spicy, innit? I usually ignore the pickled ginger when I'm having sushi.

i'm super! just about to go to training for this job that i'm not even sure about. oh wellll.

Yes, I like Blues Brothers very much. The first film anyway. The second one is a bit shite although the music is ok. I will seek out the people you mention because that is the kind of rock and roll animal that I am. As for data entry, I sympathize. The thing creative people do when they are not being creative or there are no substances to abuse. i once did a data entry job transferring tax details from a card system to a computer. The only thing it had going for it apart from the paycheck was that I got to learn who had the silliest names in my home town. My favourite two were Attila Klingsik and Selvin McBeady.

Hiya. How are you? I had a migraine all weekend but today I feel bloody good despite the ridiculous central valley heat. I am doing some recording tonight with a view to doing something with it which is exciting. Only a mere twenty six years between releases if I can mange to get something out.

Meanwhile, I feel like the old MTC is fading away, and it scares me a little. I spend about an hour a day on the net, mostly writing emails and checking out MTC plus a little music downloading. It would be a shame if this place just fell out of the electronic sky!

Just to end on a different note, a guy working in my local market today was the spitting image of Vic Mackie. Quite scary when all you want to do is to ask where they moved the cheese to!

I don't work in a restaurant. Grocery shop. And it's boring. But only on weekends so far. Can't complain, though - it allows me to indulge myself. A few days ago it payed for a D&G purse. I know, I'm horrible.

It's same old same old with the folks - they are going away for the holidays, but they won't leave me with the keys, so I'm forced to spend the summer at my grandparents' house. That sucks a huge motherfucking cock.

Other than that, it's all good. I got my bag of $15 Jelly Belly jelly beans to last the rest of the weekend. Buttered Popcorn, anyone?

hell yeah! how are you?

I am glad you had a relaxing weekend. The gig on Monday was, well, different. This was the last gig with our drummer who has left for another band. Like our other guitarist, he is a a member of the Yakut native american tribe, and he had fixed up for us to play at the Memorial Day lunch at the nearby Tule River reservation, which is up in the mountains above our odd little town. A lot of traffic goes up that way as there is a casino up there, and the road was crowded on the way up. As we got near to the res, what appeared to be a procession was coming down from the casino. To cut a long story short, our truck somehow became part of the veterans procession, with people out on the streets taking pictures of us, and us posing and waving back as those are the kind of people we are! After a very slow progression through the res, we arrived at the sports hall where the ceremony was to take place. Unlike most qausi military things I havre experienced, this was actually dignified and even beautiful, with Yakuts singing Indian songs in honour of their dead family members. Alongside the US, Californian and regimental flags, there was also the ceremonial tribal spear of the Yakut. I am an anti war kind of person, but as I say, the whole ceremonial side of this moved me a lot. Then, we had to go and break the mood by playing. The second set was nearly two hours long and I could hardly stand afterwards, I was that tired, but I got through it and in all it was a pretty good experience.

Healing pretty well, but I am doing a 4 hour gig on Memorial day which will be a real test. How are things in sunny NY?

This is an audience story, but one that seems to stick with me. In the early 80s, I was working for a small touring theater company in Birmingham, England and also gigging with a Carribean blues and soca singer, so I tended to be busy. When I did get a night off, we tended to go for it. One night, we had gone to a pub in Birmingham where a new band The Jesus and The Mary Chain were playing. My friends and I were happily off our heads and missed the early part of the set because one of the people who was with us slid down a wooden bannister not noticing that one of the guys from the support band was leaning against it. It all ended in much shouting and pointing (from his one good hand anyway) but was finally resolved by the plying of much beer.

We finally got back to the gig, which I have to say was magnificent. The crowning glory for me though was that on the very last note and drum beat of the set, someone in the crowd (some feet away from the stage) projectile vomitted, the puke flying high above the crowd and totally hitting a very unhappy Jim Reid totally. It was the timing, right on the very last note of the set that impressed me. No million dollar pyrotechnics could have been any better! I know that the band had a reputation for being moody on stage early on, playing short sets, turning their backs to the audience, etc, and I have always liked to think that it might just have been because of this gig.

I've been busy, too, that's why I can't find time to be on the Internet... School's kind of over, because all we do is talk about the forthcoming two exams and tests we have to do in June, then we're on break. So I've been busy doing good stuff instead. :)

Work is fine, as well. I'm covering all weekends from now on, and more shifts when school's off. I'm going to be loaded when summer break is over.

Strawberries are the shit! I'm craving Ben & Jerry's and Jelly Beans like mad! Very, very expensive obsessions of mine, the prizes are ridiculous over here.

What's new? Plans for summer?

Hi! It has been a very strange week. I had my second procedure, results came in which were not as bad as they could be but enough to freak me out a little. We went to the coast to be with relatives over the weekend which was actually quite nice for once! I got back, still a bit sore, but generally ok. I was greeted by some shitty emails about my book, and then I found out two members of my band left putting 10 or 12 paid gigs in peril. Tuesday night I played with a pickup band at the local state hospital and it was perhaps the strangest but by no means worst gig I have ever been involved in. I am doing ok though. I bought things to turn my PC into a recording studio today and have been happily making noise and sticking to the male doctrine of not reading instruction manuals and then wondering why it took four hours to make everything work. A fun four hours now. How about you? What's shakin' as we geriatric Brits say? (Well, I am the only one who says it still, I think!) I shall come up with another story in the next day or so if thats ok.