For the past couple of years, I’ve worked at the Edinburgh Fringe, trying to squeeze in as many shows as possible between the ones I was working on.
This year I’ll actually be going as a holiday – but I still wanted to do a project that celebrates the festival and the acts who’ll be performing there this August.
Each Saturday, I’ll be publishing a video interview with one of these acts on Touchcast, pulling in their posters, videos and much more. We’ll be chatting about their shows, previous festivals and the shows they’ll be in the front row for, come the summer.
The first of these interviews is with comedian Tom Webb. He’ll be taking two shows to the Fringe this tear, a stand up show, ‘MegaDudes Crime Club‘ and ‘MegaGames with Tom Webb‘, in which he plays mass-participation version of classic games with his audience.
We chatted about his shows, giant games of Human Hungry Hippos and how nuts may help to stop you from going crazy during the gruelling festival schedule. Watch it here.
Next up I spoke to writer and stand-up Grainne Maguire about her Edinburgh panel show, ‘What Has the News Ever Done for Me?’, her first full-length show about bonnets and rain and incorporating 80s jeans and competitive dance moves into her last festival effort.
You can find out who Grainne would love to bring some ‘sex appeal’ to her panel show by watching the Touchcast here.
Before I started tinkering with tinned tomatoes and ‘finding my own way’ with recipes, I tried loads of different tomato pasta sauce recipes, but I’ve pretty much sworn by this one for a couple of years.
It’s quick, cheap and easy, goes with anything and can be adapted to your tastes. It’s also easily doubled and doesn’t require puree or vegetable stock like some recipes I’ve previously tried.
Chuck in some chopped pepper (frozen or fresh), courgettes or mushrooms after your onions are softened but before adding the chopped tomatoes and heat for a couple of minutes as an extra way of getting your five a day.
I have this with pasta (brilliant for a packed lunch) or on top of fish – particularly those frozen fillets you can get. If you’re not going with the fresh ingredients, this can be made entirely from store cupboard essentials
Frankie’s simple tomato sauce (makes two generous portions)
You will need…
Tin of chopped tomatoes
Dried basil or mixed herbs (if you’ve got fresh, go for it)
One small red onion (chopped finely)
A few fat cloves of garlic, crushed (adjust to taste – I’m a garlic fiend)
Chilli powder or half a chopped red chilli (it’s properly spicey if you go fresh, so I tend to use powder – so convenient!)
A generous handful of sliced black olives
Balsamic vinegar
Red wine (optional)
Pinch of salt
Large pinch of sugar
A couple tablespoons olive oil
Method…
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. When it’s warmed through, add the onion and the garlic. Heat until softened. Add the fresh chilli if you’re using it.
If you have red wine to hand, pour a generous slug of it into the pan and then heat until absorbed. Repeat with the balsamic vinegar.
Add chilli powder if using it and heat for a further minute.
Add the chopped tomatoes, olives, sugar, salt and herbs. Heat for five minutes or until excess water from the tomatoes has reduced.
Serve with fresh basil and feta (depending on what you’re having it with)
I’m deliberately not calling this post ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ because I don’t think I need to change who I am – and nor should you – but because I’m a fan of a to-do list and this is a good excuse to create an ‘action plan’ for 2014…
2013 has been, for the most part, fine. It’s gone ridiculously fast too. There were big changes at the start and end of the year (I got dumped by email in January – ouch) and changed jobs (moving to EastEnders in late December), but for the most part I feel like I’ve coasted along.
However, everyone should take a moment to think about the good bits as well as the disappointing receiving of electronic communications and so here are a few of the highlights…
#Team NCA
The BBC Radio New Comedy Award returned in 2013 (we got a BBC Production Award nomination for the 2012 multiplatform element that I produced which was pretty cool) and I found myself without a budget so recruited a big batch of amazing volunteers to help film and edited each film myself. The core group of Producer Tilusha, Production Co-Ordinator Tam and Production Management Assistant Isma were bloomin’ hilarious and wonderful. And of course the most fabulous Executive Producer Alison Vernon-Smith and the stylish (and talented) Production Manager Hayley Nathan. My favourite production of the 18 months I spent at BBC Radio Comedy.
Grainne & J-Bugg shake up the Beeb
I found two excellent, talented friends in the new Radio Comedy bursary writers…
A Summer of gigs!
Thanks to Elena Dana, I finally started gigging in London, even making my jazz debut. And I got a new telecaster… now to get an amp (see 2014 to-do list…) I also wrote at least three songs I can count among my favourites.
Making my own damn icing, thank you very much
When I baked in the Get Flat in 2012, someone else was around to do the icing while I made the batter. My early solo icing efforts were watery and rubbish. Then one day, thanks to a Primrose Hill Bakery coffee buttercream recipe, I cracked it. (Although I did have a massive icing fuck-up the other day and had to buy the pre-mixed stuff for a Xmas party at Grainne’s but never mind…)
Comedy! Comedy! Comedy!
I saw some amazing shows and met some hilarious, lovely people this year. People who made me laugh included: Bridget Christie, Phil Wang, Steve Bugeja, Rob Carter, Katherine Bennett, Kate Lucas, Adam Hess, Tom Craine, Joe Lycett, Dean Sekhon, Peter Brush, Grainne Maguire, Mae Martin, Nick Helm Sarah Campbell, Nish Kumar, James Bran, Joe Davies, Ivo Graham James Acaster, Dane Baptiste, Jonny Pelham (and many, many more – go and check them out…)
Producing a book… sort of
In the New Year the BBC will be releasing an iBook about writing for Radio Comedy that I produced… I’ll post more about this in 2014!
Anyway, 2013 review aside, there’s loads for me to be getting on with next year, so here’s some stuff I’d like to do in 2014…
Buy amp to go with new telecaster (rather than playing through mixing desk connected to computer speakers)
Finish painting bedroom – there’s no longer a reasonable excuse for the large unpainted patch behind the wardrobe!
Cook a wider variety of foods (other than jacket potato, pasta and homemade sauce and stir fry)
Invite friends over more regularly to share wider variety of foods
Apologise less for the way I look
Be less passive when someone judges the way I look unnecessarily
Buy more cushions for my large sofa
Keep up the exercise and resist chocolate/ice cream temptations!
Practice guitar more
Find rhythm section to play with me and Reece (who I’m working on songs with)
Get keyboard out again
Record more music – and record it better
Read more on my Kindle
Find permanent contract
Renew ISA
Fill up ISA
Invest in more loose leaf teas
Save up for Canon 5D
Be better at getting people together – but not feel so guilty if I don’t
Enjoy self as much as possible
Blog more!
There’s definitely more – most of that reads like a shopping list! I must have January sales on the brain….
Basically I found the pressure of playing with people not necessarily similar to my style, in a large venue with the demand of bringing in a big crowd, too much at this stage in my ‘gigging career’ – I use ‘career’ loosely as a term, as it’s not necessarily an aim for me right now.
I also felt that perhaps the promoter wasn’t doing as much as possible to promote the gig – there was nothing about acts on his website, no official Facebook event (which is pretty standard these days) or mailing list. When I sent him a regretful email cancelling, explaining that I felt I couldn’t bring in the audience he needed and that I had been offered a gig on the same night in a smaller venue (and also offering what I considered to be a fairer payscale) he was clearly pissed off – and that’s ok. I feel bad for cancelling, however I previously felt bad that, despite my own promotion, it didn’t look like I could pull a crowd – but neither could he.
Let’s look at the figures briefly, by way of example:
At the gig, if you brought 15 people or more, you would get £15 and a £1 per person thereafter. The price on the door was £4. Therefore, you would take £15 and the promoter would take £45. I know that there’s a soundman to pay for etc… (venues rarely charge as they get bar takings etc…) but there’s also money from people in on the door who hadn’t come to see anyone in particular – and there’s no door split between the acts for that.
I am currently happy to play for free if there’s no charge on the door. But if I’m having to promote a gig and play a 30 minute set (with little or no promotion from the actual promoter), I think I have a right to earn more. At the same time, I really don’t want promoters to fail, and I’m very ‘green’, but I’m no longer 19 and so up for the exploitation these days.
Here’s a very recent song:
I’m going to invest in a better microphone and start recording and making more effort with my songs – if you want to help me with them, give me a shout…
I’m starting to play ‘bonafide gigs’ in London now and all on my lonesome.
It’s a bit harder than I anticipated – first you have to get the gigs, then shamelessly self-promote, go about your day job (mine often involves evenings for recordings or going to comedy gigs) and try and fit in some practice.
At my last gig I was feeling confident after the soundcheck, but then a ten-strong group sat in the front and continued their boisterous conversation as I played – people did ask them to be quiet but they kept talking. Sadly I’m still inexperienced in singing and playing guitar together so it put me off somewhat – I need some mates to come and chuck stuff at me (like in The Runaways movie) while I practice. When you can hear people’s words more clearer than your own, it’s hard to carry on.
The noisy audience members are something I should be used to – every time I do a gig I think ‘if it happens again, I’ll give ’em hell’. Predictably, I never do, not wanting to alienate the more attentive audience members. However, if it’s spoiling the show for them, I owe it to them and myself to sort the situation out – ultimately, however, I think the responsibility is with the promoter to gain control. This is something singer Kal Lavele is the queen of – check out her W.E Love Sundays gigs at World’s End in Finsbury Park. She’s a master curator (and a bloomin’ brilliant songwriter too).
What I figure is, the more people who are there to come and watch and support, the better I’ll be. So, if you’re up for coming along, I’m playing at Rattlesnake on Upper Street in Angel on the 24th June. Doors are at 8pm and it would be lovely to see some people there! I’ve got a couple of new songs for you too…
I wrote Disappointed in Me back when I was in my second year of uni.
I guess I don’t really need to tell the story behind it as it’s pretty much all in the song (yes, ‘relationship upgrade’ were the words actually said to me, along with ‘well I’m very disappointed in you’).
So why record it now? Well, I might have written it when I was 19, but the situation isn’t uncommon for many women I know. Also, it’s ruddy good fun to play and my friend Reece was looking for something colourful to make a video around.
So here it is, Disappointed in Me on YouTube! (And for those who you who have asked me, it’s an excuse to see the ‘Get Flat’ too.)
I was dead lucky to have Reece Lipman make the video for me as part of his new venture, Shimmer-man Productions. I felt really anxious about being in front of the camera again after an extended period of not doing much on You Tube and also because it was someone else filming me, rather than me filming myself, so I had to just trust Reece and make like a op star. Luckily, Reece made me feel really comfortable and I sang along to my own song so many times I got used to it pretty quickly! (I couldn’t properly mime so I quietly sang.)
In other words, I’d thoroughly recommend him if you’re looking for a music video producer/director!
The other day, despite suffering a hangover from a late night Mariokart session, I headed to my new favorite cafe Muxima for the first Tedx Bow event.
The theme of the event, which featured a mixture of local speakers and Screen Ted talks, was ‘From the Heart’, and highlights included Amanda Palmer’s honest and eloquently explained ‘Art of Asking’ for funding her music (she compares it to her former vocation as a street statue performer) and Anise Bullimore’s very moving talk, ‘My body of work: an experience of cancer and art therapy’.
A few talks in, Isaak (who programmes Muxima’s upstairs space) came up to my ‘gang’ of Natalie, Elena and Andre (we’ve formed a mini singer-songwriter group and go on outings and stuff) and asked if one of us could fill a slot by playing. I didn’t really hear much of this conversation, so it was a surprise when I was pointed at… an hour later I was on stage with a borrowed guitar, playing the only three capo-free songs I still remember enough to play.
Aside from two people who spoke all the way through my first song (someone told them to stop or leave as everyone in the room could hear every word they were saying… it was weird having just our three voices at counterpoint) everyone was silent and actually listened – it was amazing. It felt like they had more of an effect on me personally than I could ever have had on them. It’s easier to connect with the words you’ve written when you have the space to feel them; to hear yourself perform them.
Now I know this will come across as pretentious, but when you’re playing an open mic or a gig in a bar and it’s noisy and the monitors aren’t helping you like they should, it’s easy to think ‘I need to get through this!’, particularly as I’ve not performed much recently. However, the audience, speakers and audience at Tedx Bow – the community, I should say – has given me more confidence to just flippin’ do it.
I’m playing a four song set this Easter Sunday (31st March) at All Star Lanes in Holborn.
It’s for the 15 Minute Club and it’s free! So, despite being only a short set, it’s in a cool place where you can eat, drink cocktails and bowl. Plus there’s no work for most the next day so what more excuse do you need?Facebook public event here.
Bromley’s finest non-profit festival is shaping up to be the best yet, with a number of immense acts set to grace its South London field on June 29 and 30. To celebrate the lineup, which includes indie heavy hitters Slow Club and Mystery Jets and two of my favourite acts Tom Williams & the Boat and Let’s Buy Happiness, I’ve compiled a ten track playlist featuring artists you shouldn’t miss at the event.
As always, profits from the weekend will go to Kids Company, an acclaimed charity local to London that helps vulnerable young people back on their feet so that they can thrive in their community.
The Leefest lineup (and there’s still more to come!)
Aside from the two stages they’ll be a dance tent to keep you going ’til the small hours, extra activities and (I imagine) the usual campsite bonfire so you can jam and mingle with the other festival goers as you please. The tent-based cinema, provided by Screen Social, will also make a welcome return for those reluctant to hit their tents to catch some zzzzz’s and most excitingly of all, BBC Kent’s Jacob will be turning up with some of his favourite BBC Introducing acts in tow…
All this, plus camping and transport from Bromley South chucked in for free? I’ve got my ticket ready to go!
Oh, and if you were wondering what ‘FTFW’ means, it roughly translates as ‘FOR THE FLIPPIN’ WIN!!!’
Get Frank 