Bazookalele

Another musical day. The sunshine inspired me to open a bottle of Fentiman’s, lift my ukulele down from the top of the wardrobe and have a tinker and a strum. It’s not a great ukulele, it only knows four chords at the moment, but I’m hoping to teach it a couple more over the next few weeks.

Anyway, four chords is more than enough to write a song with, especially if one of those chords is a sad one, like D minor, so that’s what I did.

I can recommend strumming a uke if you’re feeling a little under the weather. It’ll shine a little ray of Hawaiian sunshine into your soul.

Oh I Do Like To Be Beside…

Lemon Top!

Lemon Top!

Another day by the sea. Another mocha. Man, it felt like home.

I met an old teacher of mine, from 30 years ago. I saw him and thought, dammit, I have nothing but good memories of him, I’m going to go up and tell him. So I did.

“Mr Willis?” I said.

“Hi, it’s… James isn’t it?”

From 30 years ago! I was amazed. I told him I didn’t remember much about school, but I remembered that I’d liked being in his class. He seemed pleased.

“So James… What are you doing these days?”

Tough question.

“Oh, squandering my potential, as you’d expect. Your reports were totally accurate!”

So that was nice. I wandered around, read a good book (Hiding the Elephant by Jim Steinmeyer if you’re interested), sat on the beach, pondered. Frankly, I didn’t want to leave. The sooner I get away from the orange-skied delight of Middlesbrough, the better.

OK, enough personal baloney, we want a joke: So I grew up near a town called Redcar, which was famous for an ice-cream called the lemontop – basically a tasty, tangy yellowy citrus topping to the vanilla cone confection.

Mm, we loved it. Trouble is, is taught a generation of kids to not be afraid of yellow snow. So come winter, we’d be out in the snow and:

“Ooh, look, nature’s lemontop…

ew

…nature’s lemontop is tangier than Redcar’s lemontop”

And nature’s 99 was revolting.

Ba-dum-tsh!

Music Music Music

All You Need Is Love. Yeah, but if you’re making lasagne you’re going to need some pasta as well*.

It’s been a musical day. Had a band practice: no stupid lyrics cos we’re well postrock innit. I got totally lost in music and forgot who I was for a bit, which is good. Especially when I forgot I can’t actually play the guitar.

Then later I recorded another song, thinking it was all raw and honest, but listening to it now, it actually sounds like Take That having a ballad. Not good. Still, at least it’s short. And sweet. Like Mark Owen. Aw.

*Seriously. Love is not all you need. God damn hippies. Never take relationship advice from a man with a moustache, I can’t stress this enough, people! Specially if they’re wearing paisley.

Stupid Songs

Edwin Starr: At best, only partially correct

Edwin Starr: At best, only partially correct

War! Huh! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing! Well, it did stop the Holocaust, Edwin, but apart from that, you’re spot on. Say it again…

Oh and it also prevented Star Wars from being a boring film about oddly-dressed characters getting along with one other. ‘Look out! Darth Vader is hugging an Ewok!’*

I wrote a song earlier. The lyrics weren’t stupid, honestly, they were lovely and personal and poetic and all sensitive about love and pain and that, but I won’t be playing it to anyone in case some ignorant blogger takes the piss.

*actually I’d probably watch that. And weep gently at the humanity of it. “That’s no moon. It’s a basket of kittens”

Test

This is a test blog – seeing if I can do this via phone. Although I would like to add that I have reconsidered my last post. I think a glove box hot dog oven is a realistic and worthwhile goal. Fuck comedy. I want the convenience of tasty hot frankfurters at 70 mph. Brothers and sisters, I have a dream. With onions. That’s all. Bye.

Home

Well, I’m back from Edinburgh. My goodness, what a week! I had such a lovely time. Did about 14 gigs, met loads of great people from all over the world, danced til daft o’clock with half of ’em, failed to win* my So You Think You’re Funny heat, and I ate a haggis.

Haggis is quite tasty! For a bit.

My stand-up improved immeasurably while I was there – but I still have so much to learn, and so many more jokes to write. I guess it’s time to start thinking about either stepping up the ambition, working harder, travelling round to do as many gigs as I can, or, alternatively, maybe giving it up entirely.

Or perhaps there’s a grey area in the middle somewhere. I’ve always been happy to plod on at my own pace but I can’t escape the fact that time’s ticking on. How long do you chase a dream, Harris? Particularly when your default speed of pursuit is “slow saunter”. Dreams move fast, man. You think you’ve grabbed one, and, whoosh! It’s off and running over the next hill.

Some dreams are worth chasing, some are not. The trick is working out which is which. That dream I had last night about the car with a hot dog oven in the glove box? Let it go. The dream about one day flying over the rainbow to Emerald City, the mystical realm of magic and music and stripey socks – hell, I’ll follow the Yellow Brick Road for that one. The comedy? We’ll see.

If I only had a brain.

In other news, Moon Shot UK was a runner up in Propeller TV’s Comedy Fest competition, judged by David Nobbs and Toby Foster amongst others, so that’s nice. Comedyfest will air on Propeller TV, Sky Channel 195, on Monday 14th September at 10pm.

 

*or, to put it more positively, succeeded in losing