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Re-writes and Re-singsA week and a bit ago I had a session with Mr D Munro where I performed Data and Doctor Doom and then he done DRAMATURGY on it i.e. told me what he thought, offered suggestions, and worked through some bits of it with me. It was UTTERLY GRATE and since then I have been hard at work doing a massive and extensive RE-WRITE of the whole thing.
Thankfully it did not need a huge lot of RESTRUCTURING, which is HARD, but rather just re-writing, which is FUN. A lot of this was to do with streamlining and TIGHTENING what I say between songs - I did have a SCRIPT but this was more a guide as to what I'd say and when, but it became clear that I needed to work on this so as to cut out some of the waffle. Obviously it is ME doing this here show and so waffle is part of the general package, but a lot of it was coming from my own NERVOUSNESS about what I was saying and where to go next. Over the past week I have very much come round to the idea that if I write it down and (mostly) LEARN it then that will make things SMOOTHER, also easier for the audience to understand, also also less TERRIFYING for me!
The other thing he drew my attention to was the possibility for MORE JOKES. "That sounds like it could be a JOKE", he remarked at various points, and since then I have gone through and identified lots of other places where, rather than e.g. glaring at the audience and saying "THIS IS AN IMPORTANT BIT!" I can do a JOKE what gets the point across much more clearly. I have thus been sitting at my laptop GIGGLING to myself as I think up GAGS, and having a lovely time doing so.
Another thing I've been toiling away at has been a couple of song re-writes, which is something I LOVE to do as it means I can pretend I am working on a BROADWAY SHOW the day after previews and the Producer has come in and said "Hibbett! The end of Act Two ain't getting them off their feet, we needs a re-write, ka-peesh?" (CHARACTER DIALOGUE). The really big deal for this has been re-doing the BIG FINALE of the whole show, which has made me VERY HAPPY INDEED as it now brings in MORE themes (including a couple of new RUNNING GAGS what Dec suggested) and builds to a MUCH bigger ending than before.
It has all been rather delightful so far, although now that I have officially reached the end of the current draft and printed it off, there are two (2) slightly LESS delightful prospects for me. The first is that I've got to actually LEARN it, and the second is that I don't get another chance to show it off to Dec or the various pals who came to the work in progress version. The next time I do it will be to ACTUAL HUMANS who I DO NOT KNOW! YIKES!!
And if you'd like that to be YOU (SLICK MARKETING SEGUE!) you can find details of all the forthcoming shows on the Data and Doctor Doom GIGS page!
posted 23/6/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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I Read The Arthur C Clarke Award Shortlist
For the past several years I have taken great delight in trying to read the full Arthur C Clark Award shortlist. I first did it as a way to read some NEW Science Fiction (i.e. not just the next book by the same people as before OR something designated A Classic) and this worked out SO WELL that I have done it every year since, including THIS year.
For LO! for I think the first time ever I have managed to read ALL of them, all the way through, and also done so BEFORE the final award is announced. This is a PRETTY GOOD result for me, as in other years there has always been at least one book that I have given up on or read the description of and thought "OH DEAR NO". Every one of the books this year was worth getting to the end of, and indeed a good 50% of them were BLOODY GRATE.
I'm sure that everyone is really keen to know my mighty THORTS on them this year, especially in advance of the actual result, so let's go through them in the order what I read them:
Service Model (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
I really really like Adrian Tchaikovsky books, even though it's a bit hard to keep up as he writes SO MANY, and this was one of my favourites of his so far. Excitingly (for me) I read this one BEFORE the shortlist came up, and loved it. It's about a robot whose human master dies, so that he has to go on a JOURNEY through the end of the world and it is VERY FUNNY INDEED.
The Ministry Of Time (Kaliane Bradley)
Cor! I thought this was absolutely flipping brilliant - moving, funny, ROMANTICAL and un-put-downable. There's a government ministry with a TIME MACHINE that picks people out of the past who are about to be killed and then assigns them to a junior member of staff to be looked after, at which point HIJINKS and TWISTS and also ROMANCE happens. It was ace!
Thirteen Ways To Kill Lullabelle Rock (Maud Woolf)
This was not quite as good as it felt like it was supposed to be, although that might be because I read it straight after "The Ministry Of Time". It's about a sort-of-clone who's created to kill the other sort-of-clones of its originator, and it was all right but also Quite Short, which is a type of book I would like to encourage.
Annie Bot (Sierra Greer)
OH MY WORD I had to have a BREAK from reading this one as it was UPSETTING, but in a really good way. This wasn't hugely funny like my other two favourites but was VERY exciting and thought provoking and all round AMAZING.
Extremophile (Ian Green)
Crikey this one took a REALLY long time to get going, and was quite "Look everybody! EDGINESS!" so it's the one I came closest to giving up on. Also, there is lots of stuff about people being in BANDS in East London which felt really WRONG e.g. yes it's the future and everything is terrible, but I'm sure that bands still wouldn't bring their own microphones and stands with them to these sort of gigs. I think it was things like that that made me a bit grumpy about it, but it did get quite exciting in the end.
Private Rites (Julia Armfield) This one took even LONGER to get going, and when it finally did it felt like cheating a bit. The vast majority of the story is about some very posh sisters being a bit cold and rude to each other in a near future where it always rains. It was a little bit dreary to be honest, and mostly about dystfunctional posh people being dysfunctional and posh, so when A THING happened near the end it didn't feel particularly earned. It was very nicely written though!
BOOK REVIEWS! PEASY!
As for my PREDICTION as to what will win - it's usually one of the ones that I found a bit boring and worthy that wins, especially if it's one by somebody who would be midlly offended if someone said that it was science fiction at all. HOWEVER, this year I have a strong feeling that it will be one of the ones I actually liked, specifically "Annie Bot" as a) it is dead good and b) it Speaks To This Current Moment. I really hope it wins, it was dead good... which almost definitely means it won't!
posted 23/6/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Funny Comics Best Of
The latest episode of The Funny Comics Fan Club is out NOW and it features the VERY BEST of what we've done so far.
Some might say this makes it a REPRINT but I prefer to think of it as a SUMMER SPECIAL, featuring John and I
The whole thing was put together as part of a LENGTHY process of going through all the episodes so far in order to create slightly smaller BEST OF compilations for us to enter into some COMPETITIONS. Quite a lot of work went into it and John suggested it could also form the basis of a special episode to tide everyone over until season 3 (which we hope to start recording soon). It ALSO proved extremely useful for me as a way to gather THORTS for a presentation I'm giving at The International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference in Brussels in a couple of weeks, wherein I shall be guiding various international academics through our findings. I may try and RECORD that as well so we can issue it as a further BONUS EPISODE, but it does rather rely on me remembering to do so amidst all of the conference excitement/hangovers, so we'll see!
posted 18/6/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Poster Patrol
At the weekend ago I headed into town to do a ye olde ROCK ADMIN job which I haven't done for DECADES: going round shops asking them to display some FLYERS!
Back in the previous century before we had THE INTERWEB this was a crucial part of ROCK promotion, although back then I tended to focus on POSTERS rather than flyers, largely because I could get away with photocopying 10 posters for Leicester's various record shops and venues, but would be NOTICED if I tried to do thousands of flyers at work. I would trudge into the city centre, usually on a weekday lunch break, and go round all of the above humbly handing over posters, and then go round again the next day to see if anyone had actually put them up. I really really did not like doing it, so was happy to pack it all in just as soon as T Berners-Lee came along and liberated us all.
HOWEVER, the advice from ALL of the various Fringe organisations where I'm taking Data and Doctor Doom this summer was that you HAD to have posters and flyers for the venues, and so I have embarked upon a series of orders from the lovely people at Banana Print, who did a GRATE job of it. In most cases I just got the posters and flyers delivered direct to the venues, but for the Camden Fringe show at The Hen & Chickens I realised that I could get everything delivered to ME and then a) have a LOOK at it and b) take some round London's COMIC-related establishments.
So that is what I did, and it went SURPRISINGLY well, with flyers happily handed over at The Cartoon Museum, Gosh and Forbidden Planet. It was all much like a DREAM really, a feeling enhanced by popping into Fopp to buy the new Half Man Half Biscuit CD and having a YOUNG PERSON behind the counter eloquently discussing its merits. Young people? Listening to Half Man Half Biscuit? That can't be real, can it?
The day finished even MORE surreally when, after dropping the remaining flyers AND a load of posters off at the venue, I got a Mildmay/Overground train DIRECT to Stratford with no stops. It was AMAZING - it was running really late so they changed it to a non-stopping service, with the next one 2 minutes behind doing the stopping instead. This was a bit annoying for people who DIDN'T want to go direct to Stratford but for the rest of us it was AAMAZING - so amazing in fact that when we arrived approx 20 seconds later Actual Londoners expressed DELIGHT - OUT LOUD - at the speediness of it all! I don't think I've heard Actual Londoners expressing collective delight in public since The Olympics - what a day!
posted 17/6/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Outside Eye
A few weeks ago I did what I thought would be my EARLIEST EVER gig, getting up early to do a show at UAL at 10.20am o'clock in the morning. However, on Friday last I got up similarly early and went to do an even EARLIER gig (or sort of gig) at 10.00am o'clock in the morning!.
It was a "sort of gig" because I was doing it for one (1) person, and that person was Mr Declan Munro for one of his Outside Eye sessions. The idea of this is that he watches you do a runthrough of your show (or similiar) and then basically gives THORTS. I had tried a couple of times to do this as part of a PROJECT what the Arts Council utterly refused to countenance, but this time I was able to wrangle it via some CA$H wot I had secured via work for TRAINING PURPOSES for ME, and thus I was booked in for a session to go through Data and Doctor Doom.
To be perfectly honest my main DREAM for all of this was that Dec would say "Oh this is marvellous, well done, here are 3 extra jokes that can be put in otherwise TOP MARKS". After all, I'd already done the Work In Progress show and REViSED everything accordingly, so I was mostly hoping for REASSURANCE and the afore-stated Extra Gags.
I got a WHOLE LOT MORE than that!
I originally knew Dec from many moons ago when Steve and I did Total Hero Team at the Edinburgh Fringe, with him looming large in my personal memory of that time as the person who INSISTED we Do The Show Right Here on the day that our venue was temporarily shut down. I bumped into him many times over the years, notably at the launch for Mr R Manuel's Fesshole book, where I discovered he was a DRAMATURG (i.e. someone who helps with THORTS on performances) and resolved there and then to SOMEHOW do something with him like this.
ANYWAY, what that means is that we did some catching up first of all, during which I told him of my hopes for a) reassurance b) more gags, and then I launched into doing the SHOW. It was a bit nerve-wracking at first because we were doing it in a small office where other people were coming and going, so I had to keep reminding myself not to sing at FULL BELLOW, and also because even one such as I who is used to SHALL WE SAY small, intimate venues with small, intimate audiences gets a little thrown by doing the whole thing AT one person.
Still, it all went OK, we had a little break, and then came back for about an hour of AMAZING THORTS. COR! It was incredible - I DID get the reassurance I craved, but then Dec talked me through a HUGE range of ideas, thoughts, CONCEPTS, suggestions, analysis and ALL THAT taking in many many things which had never even occurred to me but, now that he was saying them, seemed utterly obvious. One of the big ones was when he asked me what I wanted out of the show as a whole, and I told him of my hopes that, for instance, when the "Avengers: Doomsday" movie comes out it would be ME who media outlets would contact to talk about it. "You should actually say that in the show", he said, and OF COURSE I should! OF COURSE!
There were lots and lots of other thoughts like this which I shall not go into here for fear of SPOILERS, but goodness me he was full of GRATE IDEAS. Also, wonderfully, he talked me through THEORY and CONCEPTS of performance and stand-up that I had never really thought of. One really really BASIC one was to pause and focus on one person before delivering a punchline, so that there was no distraction and the audience knew it WAS the punchline. COR! I mean, that sounds straightforward when put like that but I have been TREADING THE BOARDS these many decades without even considering IT.
It was, not to put too fine a point on it, AMAZING, and if this was a TrustPilot Review there would be five stars and even MORE super superlatives than what there are here now. It was also really EMOTIONAL - there is a whole lot of ME in this show and so having someone so BRAINY give it respect, attention and IDEAS was surprisingly moving. I thus staggered away and towards home EXHAUSTED but also DELIGHTED by the whole experience.
Now all I have to do is Actually Re-Write It! YIKES!
posted 16/6/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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London Data Week
Let joy ring out around the nation, for LO! the final date on the Data and Doctor Doom SUMMER TOUR can now been announced!
I am VERY PLEASED to say that I'll be performing the official WORLD PREMIERE of the show on Friday 11 July at The Hub in Peckham, in conjunction with UAL's Creative Computing Institute as part of London Data Week! The show is FREE to get in but has a strictly limited number of tickets, so if you fancy coming you'll need to a) register in advance and b) be free at 3.30pm, as that's when it's on.
The whole experience of booking this one has been a DELIGHT, not least because I've been working on it with the very cool cats at the Creative Computing Institute. The CCI is part of University of the Arts London, where I WORK, so I have had the extremely unusual experience of not only doing ROCK stuff during work time (which OBVS I have never otherwise done) and that being ALL FINE and part of my job. It also means I've had several MEETINGS with the people who work there, which is ALWAYS lots of fun as they are ARTS people but also MASSIVE NERDS i.e. MY SORT OF PEOPLE!
That, barring any unforseen emergency bookings, brings the SUMMER TOUR booking to completion, sitting alongside the shows in Watford, Buxton, Bedford and Camden. There should also be some more gigs later in the year, but there'll be more on that ANON. In the meantime I'm REALLY looking forward to being Officially ON TOUR again, and it would be even more fun if you, dear reader, came along!
posted 11/6/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Administration and Secrets
I realise that the recent absence of fresh and exciting new blogs might lead one to think that there has been no fresh and exciting ACTIVITY recently, but nothing could be further from the truth - it's just that a lot of said activity has been either SECRET or ADMIN-BASED.
There have been not one but TWO secret things occurring lately, one of which is SECRET PROJECT to do with music that I am very very VERY excited about but am unable to speak of as yet. I think it's OK to say that last week I spent a whole DAY specifically on it, and that this was the SECOND day of work, but otherwise I had really best go no further than that. The other one is to do with COMICS but I have signed an actual bit of paper to say I won't talk about that yet either, so won't. I wish I could though, they are both GRATE!
What I very much CAN speak of, however, is the ROCK ADMIN what is currently gushing through my THORT TUBES, all of which is to do with the imminent commencement of the Data and Doctor Doom TOUR. I'm currently in the pre-publicity phase, which means I've been sending out a lot of EMAILS, getting together some more thoughts for VIDEOS, pondering maybe releasing a SINGLE of one of the songs, answering various questionnaires, and most recently sorting out some POSTERS.
Posters! Crumbs, I had forgotten about the need to do these, and so was taken slightly unaware when various Fringe organisers started asking for them. I had designed some a month or so ago but when I looked upon those again I realised that they were a bit cluttered and also gave no idea about what the show actually WAS, so have been TOILING away trying to make them a bit more informative and ZINGY. Part of this involved writing a STRAPLINE, but after discussion with The Images In My Logo we couldn't decided exactly what it should BE - rather wonderfully the aforementioned Ballots In My Box suggested putting it up for public discussion on THE SOCIALS so that is exactly what I did, and we got the final version as "a musical extravaganza of slides, statistics and super-villainy". It was like OLDEN TYMES when The Socials were actually USEFUL - I also got a GRATE recommendation for a printer in a similar way, and have now begun the process of ORDERING them. You can see all the ones done so far over on the gigs page, but here's the one for CAMDEN as an example:
Keen observers may notice that, technically speaking, this is MORE cluttered than possibly any other poster EVER, and includes some new images that have previously not been associated with the show. The new images come from the REVISED version what I have been working on since the work-in-progress show a few weeks ago, including a picture of ME at my PhD graduation which I suddenly realised would be PERFECT as a Publicity Picture for the tour - not only was it taken by a Professional Photographer, not only does it clearly demonstrate that I am INDEED a Doctor Of Doctor Doom, but it ALSO clearly shows that I look FABULOUS in purple!
Also, the cluttering is DELIBERATE as all of the guidance I got from various places said "the best way to do a poster is to have one single distinctive image" and it made me think of the row upon row of posters showing A Comedian Looking Whimsical that you see EVERYWHERE during Edinburgh Fringe. As ever, the fact that everyone else was doing their posters one way made me want to do it in the totally opposite way. I am PRETTY SURE this will lead all neutral observers to think "Why, this fellow is clearly some kind of maverick who doesn't play by the rules, I must buy multiple tickets for his show IMMEDIATELY."
Anyway, it all feels very EXCITING, as if this krazy idea of a show about Doctor Doom is actually going to HAPPEN. If you'd like to come and see it in Watford, Buxton, Bedford or Camden there are links for tickets available (and indeed TICKETS very much available) with some more shows to be announced hopefully fairly soon. Do come if you can, I think it is going to be Quite Good!
posted 2/6/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Sweet Bedford
I've been doing a lot of Promotional Activity for Data and Doctor Doom this week, including tonnes of emails out to relevant organisations and a whole SLEW of trailers. In amongst all this, however, yesterday I booked a whole other SHOW out of the blue!
For LO! I am now ALSO performing at The Bedford Festivalk Fringe at Quarry Theatre on Friday 25 July! I am really chuffed about this, as I'd tried to apply several months ago but hadn't been able to get a venue - I was trying for sensibly sized places for me, which the Quarry Theatre technically is NOT, but I have been assured that it can be set out to be an 80 capacity venue rather than its usual 250, so hopefully that'll be all right. Obviously if it is a RIP ROARING SALES JUGGERNAUT they can go back to the normal layout, but for now I am envisioning CABARET STYLE seating, the traditional method for having smaller audiences in larger spaces!
The only downside to the whole thing is that I've already DONE the main tour video with the current list of shows in, but I know there is at least one other show to be added to the list which hasn't been announced yet, and hopefully plenty more to come in future, so I can always add it there. My great aim is to do AT LEAST ten performances for this, if only to make it worth all the practicing and GEAR-purchasing!
Tickets for all dates are available via the Data and Doctor Doom site - do come along if you can, it is going to be Quite Good, honest!
posted 23/5/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Wikipedia Page Rescue
Last week I got a message from Mr R Kirkham to tell me that my Wikipedia page was under threat of DELETION!!
This threw me into panic because I REALLY REALLY REALLY like the fact that I have a Wikipedia page, as it is both COOL and also VERY COOL because I didn't even set it up myself! If I WAS updating it myself I would have done things like put a DISCOGRAPHY in there somewhere, but doing so would feel like cheating and also destroy the entire aforesaid VERY COOLNESS of the thing, so have diligently avoided doing so.
However, the problem with me not updating it was that nobody ELSE has updated it for ages either, and so it was looking a bit out of date and flimsy. THUS I could understand why it had been picked out for possible deletion by Mighty Wikipedia Editors, although I did BRIDLE somewhat at the suggestion that "His most popular songs & videos never cracked 100,000 views on YouTube". You young whippersnapper, some of us had viral hits BEFORE YOUTUBE EXISTED!
After some soul searching and continued RESISTANCE to temptation I put out an emergency call on THE SOCIALS asking for anybody who knew how to do Wikipedia, and could be arsed, to have a look at it and do some updates please. To my delight people DID and I am DELIGHTED to say that not only has the whole Deletion Discussion been RESOLVED but it has ended up with a rather more EXCITING page all together. All right, I could have lived without the bit that says repeated listens "dull the humour", but I guess that just shows that it's PROPER! PHEW - thanks everyone!!
posted 21/5/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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I Saw Lazarus Clamp Play Down The 100 Club
On Monday evening I set off into London's fashionable LONDON area of London to go and see a ROCK SHOW! Get me!
The venue was The Prestigious 100 Club, with Lazarus Clamp playing (on a bill supporting Say Sue Me) and thus featuring our very own Tom 'The Tiger' McClure. I ZOOMED into town on the Elizabeth Line and arrived before the doors had opened, to find a QUEUE outside, so I popped round the corner for a bit of tea. I returned 20 minutes later expecting it to have gone down but found that it was now slightly longer but now MOVING - the door to the actual 100 Club is inside a shared office space and then down some stairs (GLAMOUR) so they had wisely got a Queueing Patiently Outside scheme going on.
Once inside I found the CLAMP CREW (as the cool kids are almost definitely calling them) and also Mr G Gargan, promoter and all-round good guy. Helloes were said and then very quickly it was time for them to go on and be GRATE. I was later told that this was their third gig in eight years, but there was no DUST to be detected as they ROCKED through a set that included much CATCHINESS, various ANGULARITY, and a totally brilliant bit where they stopped played and the whole band sang off microphone for a bit. That was especially ace!
Here is some photographic evidence of said ACE-ness:
Amazingly I took that photo WITHOUT a fancy camera - no, really!
Afterwards there was some lurking around and saying Well Done EVerybody, and the also some unexpected bumping into people I hadn't seen for ages. Cor, it was like going to a GIG used to be in olden times, it was lovely! I also saw the other support Hazy Sour Cherry who were BRILLO, although they did stir some wistful nostalgia for INDIETRACKS as they were the sort of band who would/should have been on in the tram shed on Saturday at 8pm, completely WINNING the whole audience.
I couldn't stick around for Say Sue Me, sadly, but to be honest for me the headliners had already been The Clamp (as the older kids are definitely calling them). It was lovely to SEE them all again, here in their 30th year of existing (even longer than The Validators!), and I went home with joy in my heart at the knowledge that GIGS are still GRATE!
posted 20/5/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Esquire Magazine
A couple of months ago I reported on a lovely chat about Superman that I'd had with a journalist from A Well Known Magazine, and am now in a position to reveal that the magazine was ESQUIRE and that the resulting article has not only come out but also features quite a lot of ME in it!
I'd made a note of when this quarter's issue was due out (it comes out every three months I think) so popped down to WH Smiths to buy a copy and was DELIGHTED to find that not only did it have a whacking great PULL QUOTE from me in it, but that the article itself was Actually Really Good. As well as being a proper comics fan The journalist, Mr J Davis, had done COMICS RESEARCH for it, and quoted a whole heap of people like G Morrisson and D Wolk of whom I entirely approve. He'd also interviewed several other people like me and I was RELIEVED to discover that I am definitely not the only one who thought that KRYPTO was the key character in the early trailers.
It was, in fact, DEAD GOOD - the only thing missing was that they didn't get me in for a FASHION SHOOT as well, but I'm sure they're saving that for the next issue!
posted 16/5/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Let The Trailers COMMENCE!
Today I am RUDDY DELIGHTED to unleash upon an unsuspecting world the first of over SEVERAL trailers for Data and Doctor Doom, THUS:
It may surprise you to discover that this was not, as it may appear, recorded over many weeks in an expensive professional studio but in fact done in a corner of the flat in the space of about an hour yesterday. Hard to believe but true! It was actually dead good fun to do, as I had been THINKING about it for ages like a ZEN PAINTER (almost exactly like that) so I was poised and ready to DO it super speedily. Excitingly it used a lot of GEAR - two laptops, a four-track, a video camera and stand, a projector and a CAPE - all of which got put away VERY NEATLY once I had done.
This is the main TOUR video, but I've also done SPECIFIC ones for each of the dates, which I'll be rolling out on The Socials over the next few days. After that the promotional ONSLAUGHT will hopefully continue with videos for a couple of the actual songs, but I need to find time to get around to doing those once I've finished the current batch of REVISIONS. There's LOADS still to do to make it all happen, but getting this out into the world today does feel like a big step. Hope you like it!
posted 15/5/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Posters Launched
Preparations for Data And Doctor Doom continue APACE with lots of work RETOOLING the script following the excellent feedback from last week's work in progress show, and also the development of some POSTERS, what I am delighted to share with you here and now!
You can click each one to see it in its FULL GLORY, for verily they are pretty GLORIOUS. They are also fairly PACKED - it's been quite a while since I last had to do an actual GIG POSTER, as opposed to a Web Event Image, and I'd forgotten how much STUFF you have to cram into them. Also the main picture is quite busy, but to be honest I rather like that - the advice is always to do "a single striking image" but for Fringe Shows that always seems to end up being a close-up of a comedian looking self-consciously GOOFY, so hopefully that means my MULTITUDE OF SCREENS pic will stand out. Hopefully!
There's loads more to DO for all this, and all being well loads more GIGS to announce too, but getting these posters out there feels like a right proper first step!
posted 14/5/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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A First Class Film Experience
After all of the excitement of the week of ROCKING the Doctor Doom show I decided to take it a bit easier on Friday, and at the end of the working day took myself off to THE PICTURES to watch "Thunderbolts". Normally I would go and see the latest Marvel film with my old, and indeed oldEST, pal Mr S Carter, but between the two of us we couldn't find a suitable time to GO for this one due to WORK etc, so I ended up on my own.
In fact I ended up almost COMPLETELY on my own, as only two other people were in my SCREEN, which made my experience even MORE luxurious than it would otherwise have been i.e. VERY For LO! we have got a new Everyman Cinema near me and I have been KEEN to have a go because it looks DEAD POSH. Spoilers: it really was!
When I arrived I asked at the bar how it all WORKED, because as far as I could see it was more like a fancy BAR than an actual cinema. The very nice person behind the bar suggested I go into the screen and take a MENU with me, and then five minutes later they'd come in and take my order. FANCY! Once inside I discovered a load of SOFAS with masses of legroom - when I go to the pictures on my own I usually book the front row for a) stretching out space and b) easy access to the LOO without bothering anyone, but here I could have sat anywhere. INDEED when the member of staff came to take my order they suggested that I could move anywhere I wanted to, not least because the aircon was a bit breezy down the front row. "Or I could bring you a blanket if you like?" they said. FLIPPING HECK!
A little while later they came back with BEER and - get this - some FREE POPCORN "as it's your first time here". A bit after that my VEGAN PIZZA arrived too, and goodness me it was delicious. Also, though the ticket for the film itself was quite a bit more than for the local VUE, the food and drink was pretty much the same price, and significantly nicer too!
Then just before the film started another Young Person came out to do an announcement about turning off phones etc - apparently Fancy Cinemas do this with Actual Live Humans now. "I usually ask people not to chat," they said, "but that probably isn't going to be a problem as there's no-one to talk to," then added "By the way, there are two end credit sequences and they're worth staying for."
I tell you what, I felt like a PAMPERED OLIGARCH by now, and could quite happily have just stayed there for a couple of hours being brought food and drink by Nice Young People, but then the film started and it was FAB. There were lots of Properly Actually Moving bits, plenty of DEAD GOOD SUPERHERO STUFF, and it seemed to have a POINT too, which was all thoroughly enjoyable. Also, the second and final end credit sequence was definitely worth waiting for.
My only complaint was that the LOO was a bit far away, but that may not worry other people who do not REQUIRE it at least once in every film they ever go to see. It was a blooming lovely experience, and I can't wait to find an excuse to go again!
posted 13/5/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Doom In Progress
Thursday evening saw me stomping across London town laden with GEAR, heading to the King & Queen for the THIRD performace of Data and Doctor Doom this week. However, unlike on Monday or Tuesday this time I was going to do THE LOT!
For LO! this was the first WORK IN PROGRESS version of the whole show i.e. the main thing what I have been doing all of these REHEARSALS for. The actual proper TOUR that people can buy tickets for doesn't start until July, but I thought around now would be a good time to try the whole thing out in front of an audience so that I'd have plenty of time for any CHANGES required. Me and Steve have done similar tryouts in the past for previous shows and it WORKS, but it is always a bit TERRIFYING to have to stand in front of a bunch of people with an hour's worth of material that almost definitely isn't quite ready yet!
It is ESPECIALLY terrifying when it is a room of PALS from various aspects of your life, and that is exactly what this was, with chums from ROCK, COMICS and also WORK all gathered in the same room. It was lovely to see everyone, but annoyingly I didn't get as much chance as I'd hope to mingle around talking to people beforehand as the show has a lot of GEAR to be set up, including a whole projection screen which I had to wrangle into place behind the BAR upstairs, with the AMAZING help of The Ingledows. Getting it all set up, and then later put away, took AGES - as Steve said later, I will need to get a ROUTINE sorted out for when it goes on the road!
Once this was done people started to filter upstairs, and at not long after 7.30pm I stood up before the gathered THRONG to do a bit of admin, before promising to go off for 10 seconds and then come back to start the show. The plan was to nip out of the room, put my CAPE on, and then SWOOP back, but somehow a previously unnoticed strip of VELCRO got involved and it took a full minute for me to come back and get started, whereupon I done THIS:
That is a WHOLE LOT of songs, and in between them is a WHOLE LOT of talking. I had planned to record it all on my four-track for a) scrutiny b) timing but forgot, but I THINK it took an hour from start to finish, which is just about right at this point. The finalised TOURING version needs to be a bit shorter but hopefully that will come through minimising FAFF and ERRORS. There was QUITE A LOT of that sort of thing, but again I don't think it mattered - it WOULD matter if I was doing it to an audience of comic fans who I don't know, as will hopefully be the case later in the year, but one of the many nice things about performing to a room full of PALS is that they are obliged to be Quite Forgiving!Data and Doctor Doom (intro)
Batman But Done Better
Transmedia
My Unified Catalogue Of Transmedia Character Components
That's Not Empirical
The Marvel Age
Is That Empirical?
Random Stratified Sampling
Asking
That Is Empirical
The Where, What, How And Whom Of Doctor Doom
Fuzzy Trace Theory
Many Hearts
Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars
Data And Doctor Doom Closing Medley
Data and Doctor Doom (finale)
All in all I think it went OK - there were bits that seemed to go on too long, and I'm not sure the balance of songs and talking is right all the way through, but handily I DID remember to hand out FEEDBACK sheets to everyone so I could see what the AUDIENCE thought. This was a GRATE idea, although it did lead to the rather weird sensation of finishing the show and then seeing pretty much the whole room immediately put their heads down to start WRITING UP!
After that there was the aforementioned Putting Away, which I must admit I got a bit fed up with as it meant I had less time to waft around and CHAT to people, so after a bit I decided to PAUSE the packing and go and do CHAT instead for a bit. Also I had been on the alcohol-free beer up until that point so wanted to give myself time to NECK a couple of Actual Pints!
It was a LOVELY, if somewhat NERVE-WRACKING evening, topping of a lovely but VERY nerve-wracking week. The next stage will be to go through everyone's feedback, have a bit of an old think about it all, and then work out what needs to change and start rehearsing THAT. I think I'll have a couple of days off before leaping back in though, this week has been a LOT of Doctor Doom!
posted 12/5/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Doctor Doom In The Doctoral School
Day TWO of the Bits Of Data And Doctor Doom TOUR started EXTREMELY early, with me arriving at UAL's Doctoral School at approximately 9.45am in the morning. As I always say, I did NOT come to work at an ART SCHOOL to get up early in the morning, and though technically this is within my normal start-time it felt a LOT earlier because of the mighty task I was about to perform.
For LO! I was first on for the second day of UAL Comicon, so found myself in the weird and unnatural position of setting up my GEAR before I would usually have had my first cup of coffee, ready to perfrom at - YIKES - 10.20am in the morning. The timeslot was terrifying but the venue itself was much easier to deal with than yesterday, as it was in a standard ROOM used for lectures. It was still quite big though so we needed to gather up the attendees before beginning, which involved me basically BELLOWING at everyone to come over to the other side of the room!
Once everybody was sat down I returned to the LECTERN and delivered THIS:
Data and Doctor Doom (intro)
Transmedia
The Marvel Age
Asking
Fuzzy Trace Theory
Many Hearts
Data and Doctor Doom (finale)
As with yesterday it went FINE, with quite a lot of mistakes and MILD PANICS but otherwise OK. As I'd come into the building I'd noted a sign saying that there was going to be a fire alarm test at 10.30am i.e. at EXACLTY halfway through my bit so I pre-empted it by telling people that if it all got TOO exciting an alarm would go off... at exactly half past ten. I thought this was a GRATE JOKE but then when the alarm went some people thought it might be real. Still, it did give me an opportunity to put my CLOAK on, as I had forgot so to do at the start. PHEW. Here is evidence of my encloakment, kindly taken by Dr P Mendonca:
There were also a few bits where I suddenly realised that some slides made NO SENSE because I hadn't done previous songs linked to them, but I POWERED ON and hoped that everybody would be so STUNNED by the multimedia assault on their senses they wouldn't have time to notice. I'm not sure whether that's a sustainable policy moving forward, but hopefully I can work on that once I've done the whole show all together. It's all been a bit KRAZY doing two days of two different sets of songs, both taken from a much larger set of songs that are meant to go together, but hopefully it's been good practice for doing the main SHOW. We shall see!
posted 7/5/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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The Cape Is Out There
On Tuesday morning I returned to the office carrying not just my laptop but also my guitar, a projector, projector screen, foot pedal and CAPE. For LO! This week I am doing a whole lot of Data and Doctor Doom!
The first instance of this was taking place just after lunchtime as part of "CSM Comicon", an event organised by Tessa Amorosi, PhD student and COLLEAGUE at UAL, which is basically two whole days of talks and workshops to do with COMICS. I was due to do my BIT in "the street", which is a massive hallway/corridor down the middle of Central St Martins, where apparently a "pop up area" had been created. Luckily Dr Ian Horton was doing a talk in the morning so I popped down to see him and CASE THE JOINT. It was a mildly cordoned off area with a huge MIRROR and TV screen for laptops to be plugged in, which was all fine except that there was no roof, so it was sometimes a bit difficult to hear. I NOTED this for later and then returned to my Actual Job for an hour.
It all felt a bit strange - I used to take my guitar into work all the time ten years or so ago when I worked at Birkbeck and was doing MILLIONS of gigs, but I think I've only ever done it two or three times since working at UAL. Also, I was basically going to be doing a GIG in the middle of the working day, with various pals from Comics and also Work watching!
Come the hour I went back downstairs, got everything sorted out, and did THIS:
(NB please note that I have NOT put the lyrics up for any of these songs yet, because SPOILERS!)Data and Doctor Doom (intro)
Batman But Done Better
My Unified Catalogue Of Transmedia Character Components
The Where, What, How And Whom Of Doctor Doom
Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars
Data and Doctor Doom (finale)
It went, I think, pretty good. Here is a picture of me waving to Professor R Sabin to demonstrate this fact:
Beforehand I had been naturally TERRIFED of the whole thing - not only was I doing a bunch of entirely new songs that had never been heard by anyone before, I was also doing talking between then that was almost but not quite entirely different from the talking that I'd been practicing for the past month, with similar but also different slides in a totally different order to usual, all while singing, operating a foot pedal, keeping an eye on the audience, and trying to sing loud enough to be heard in what is basically a CATHEDRAL-sized open area.
Once I got going though it went really well - there were a LOT of mistakes, but the wonderful thing was that this didn't seem to matter at ALL, and I also got to muck around and say extra stuff as I went along. The singing loud enough was tricky, and it was hard to concentrate while in a massive hall full of CSM students coming and going while Talking COnfidently, but to my ENORMOUS relief it turned out that the songs WORKED and, indeed, had LARFS in them in most of the places I thought LARFS should go. Phew!
Once I was done I packed up and chatted to a few people, then headed back to my desk. This was the WEIRDEST thing of all. I've occasionally PLAYED gigs entirely soberly, but I have almost never then REMAINED in that state afterwards, and I've certainly never finished a gig and then gone pretty much straight into a meeting about Strategic Data Requirements. Now I understand WHY this is not usually done, because it felt VERY STRANGE INDEED. I had several GALLONS of ADRENALINE coursing through my body with nowhere to go, and so I had to keep NOT getting up and running round/shouting/making stupid remarks and instead concentrate very hard indeed on being a proper grown-up. To be honest, I do not intend to make a habit of this!
Having said that I WAS booked to do something very similar the following day, with another performance at a different part of UAL with a whole OTHER batch of songs, but this time at 10.20am in the morning. How did THAT go? Stayed tuned to find out!
posted 6/5/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Practice Makes Peeved
Yesterday I had the day off work so that I could do another proper DRESS REHEARSAL for Data and Doctor Doom. I'm doing a try-out of the show next week in front of some PEOPLE - it's not on the gigs page because it's not the sort of thing I'd want people to come to hoping for a GOOD TIME, but that doesn't mean I don't need to actually PRACTICE it in advance!
Like last time I'd booked myself into create + destroy studios in London's Fashionable East London district of London, which was once again WEIRD because it's meant to be a practice room but isn't like one in any way. For starters, there's nobody there - it's all done by keypad entry, so there's no man in a heavy metal t-shirt to show you in, let alone a selection of strings, rizlas or chocolate bars on a shelf in the office. Also, the room itself is empty apart from a few fold-up chairs and a big MIRROR. I assumed this means it is usually used by DANCERS - there were a couple of young people in before me who were WHOOPING it up in that direction anyway.
On my first visit I had found a lot of the experience DISMAYING, as I'd got myself in a right old TIZZ about setting up the gear, but this time I was well prepared and got THE LOT all working in just 16 minutes. Yes, I did time myself, because I'm going to be doing this at Fringe Festivals where you tend to only have 15-20 minutes "get in" time, so I was v pleased to find that I could do that pretty easily from scratch, in a Calm and also Relaxed way.
Going through the show was a LOT better this time too, as I'd done loads of work on refining the slides and learning what went where and how. It still took about an hour and five minutes to do, what with there being quite a lot of me getting things wrong and having to try again, but I kept telling myself this is FINE. I've got a few days to practice for the try-out, and the actual People-Paying-To-Get-In gigs are MONTHS away yet, so a few mistakes is FINE.
The weird thing though is that once I'd finished I felt completely worn out and FED UP. As I packed up I thought "Crumbs, how am I going to manage to do this every day in Edinburgh?" and then "OH THANK GOODNESS I won't be doing that!" but it was still ODD to be so washed out and GLUM after doing a show that is Actually Working.
Eventually I realised that this must be what it's like to do a full show with NO ADRENELINE. When me and Steve did the shows before they were obviously in front of people and EXCITING, but when we did rehearsals it was also quite exciting because there were two of us there and we was BOUNCING off each other, and also the THRILL-RIDE of having to DO something if the other person went awry. Here there was just ME, struggling through it, and only me to blame for the cock-ups!
Even when I practice SINGING it's not quite like that as I can relax and just enjoy the songs, whereas with the show I'm constantly thinking about what talking bit comes next, or where the slides have to change. It was really quite peculiar, until I realised that ACTUALLY it's not like doing any kind of a gig or a show at ALL, but more like when I do an academic presentation. THAT has slides and talking and having to say the right bit at the right time, and practicing for THOSE sort of things is also really boring and en-glumming. The delightful thing though is that DOING the eventual presentation is almost always GRATE FUN and EXCITING as you have to deal with the audience and their questions and sudden THORTS what you have in the middle of it all.
Hopefully the actual shows will be like THAT, but with extra SINGING too. It's not long to go until I find out I guess!
posted 2/5/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Meanwhile, Behind The Scenes
This morning I sent out the latest edition of the newsletter, which is PACKED with news about the forthcoming Data and Doctor Doom TOUR as well as some BARGAINS* (*may not techincally be bargains) and various DOWNLOADS.
It all looks very busy, and it reminded me that despite much ACTION I haven't done a BLOG for a couple of weeks - the reason for this lack of bloggage is that a lot of the things I've been doing, ROCK-wise, have been either THE SAME from day to day or Not Quite Ready For Unveiling Just Yet.
The thing that has been THE SAME has been preparation for the aforesaid TOUR. It doesn't properly start until July but I've got a couple of things on next week that I need to have some sort of VERSION of it ready for. One of these is a Work In Progress show what I'm doing with a few people - this is NOT listed on the gigs page because it's more of a TRY OUT than an actual gig, but I'm going to do my best to make it as ALL RIGHT as possible. I've even taken the day off tomorrow to do another DRESS REHEARSAL, such is my commitment to QUALITY.
I'm also doing a couple of BITS on Tuesday and Wednesday next week for a comics festival taking place at my WORK. Yes, I am employed by an institution that has COMICS FESTIVALS - I can only imagine how DELIGHTED the me of 22 years ago would have been to realise that was possible! These ARE on the gigs page, but technically speaking they're only really accessible to staff and students at UAL. If you're one of those please come!
These BITS are going to be 20 minutes sort-of-presentations about PARTS of my RESEARCH, but I'm thinking of them as mini-GIGs that just happen to use some of the Doctor Doom shows i.e. me making REMARKS, occasionally pausing to do a song. It's going to be quite useful to try this sort of thing out as I'm hoping to be able to do something similar for Science Explaining-type shows later in the year.
Meanwhile the Not Quite Ready For Unveiling Just Yet stuff mostly consists of loads more SHOWS what I'm in the process of booking with various FESTIVALS. I'm quite pleased with how this is going, as I've got various Comics, Data, AND Fringe festivals in various stages of acceptance, and I should be doing a lot more shows over the next year or so. If nothing else this is REASSURING to me as I've put SO much work into MAKING the show it would be a shame to only do it two or three times! I'm also thinking of then PIVOTING it (classy business language there, thanks!) into a PODCAST around this time next year, ready for when the 'Avengers: Doomsday' movie comes out, but I need to keep telling myself to worry about the LIVE gigs for now and do that later!
posted 30/4/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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The First Dress Rehearsal... of DOOM
It's that very special time of the year when the thoughts of people who were in Professional Services in academic institutions turn to ANNUAL LEAVE. For LO! and it's about now that we realise that we have LOADS of days we still need to take off before our annual leave year ends at the close of July. We can, of course, carry days over from one year to the next but once you've done that the first year you are MAXED OUT and so have to use THE LOT. It is a TRIAL.
So it was that this year I thought "Hang on, I have VARIOUS Creative Projects on the go at the moment - including that SECRET one that I have managed not to blab about yet - so why don't I book some time off for THEM, rather than trying to cram things in during whatever NOOK in time I can find?" THUS I booked myself a couple of days extra off this week to work on the Data and Doctor Doom show, starting with an afternoon REHEARSAL yesterday.
I'd booked myself into an Actual Rehearsal room because there are LOADS of things I want to try out, and doing it at home isn't hugely convenient. The show has SLIDES in it, so I needed to be able to try out the PROJECTOR what I've bought, also the SCREEN, also the FOOT PEDAL what moves them along. Also, vitally, I wanted to have a go at playing guitar whilst wearing a CAPE (yes there is a cape) and my dears there is simply not room to SWISH in our flat, so a room was required.
I thus poddled over to create + destroy studios in nearby Hackney Wick, which apart from having a VERY This Part Of East London name was actually dead good. There was NOBODY about to let me in - they emailed me DOOR CODES instead so I could do so myself - but it all worked very nicely and I had a LARGE room with a whole long wall of mirrors all to myself.
The first hour or so of the booking was weirdly EMOTIONAL, as I frankly STRUGGLED with getting the kit all set up. I kept telling myself that it was FINE, and that obviously trying to get a projector and screen and laptop and foot pedal set up was going to take a while, and also that obviously my Not Very Expensive projector would not have PIN PRICK focus, but it was all a bit upsetting to be honest. It reminded me of when I've done SOUNDCHECKS in the past and got myself all in a tizzy during the first 2 minutes because it doesn't sound exactly right yet. I KNOW these things take time, intellectually, but emotionally I do tend to get a bit of a wobble on.
Eventually I got to launch into the show and it was... all right? Some bits were DEAD GOOD, notably the parts that I'd already done a couple of months ago at An Evening Of Unnecessary Detail, but other bits were much less so. AGANE i KNOW that this is part of the process, but it did feel a bit demoralising. Unlike previous times when I've been at this point in the process there was no STEVE around to discuss it with (or BLAME for problems!) so I must admit that it got to me a bit.
Having said that, there was one aspect of the show which is already undeniably a TRIUMPH and that is the CAPE! This looked GRATE when worn (those big mirrors came in handy!) and felt like I should always be wearing one. I'd worried that the - shall we say INEXPENSIVE - material it was made from would make me sweaty, and that it would get in the way constantly with the guitar, but it was totally fine and utterly BRILLO throughout. See for yourself!
PRETTY COOL I think you will agree!
Also, the GEAR all worked and fitted into bags that I was able to carry, and it seems that I have pretty much learned most of the songs at least, so there are many POSITIVES. Also also I am aware that this is just how it GOES at this point, and that in a few weeks it will be ZINGING along as if I've always know exactly when to stomp on the foot pedal while singing about random stratified sampling. It's just that I'd quite like to be at that point NOW, rather than having to do all the work to get there!
posted 16/4/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Peterborough United Officially Better Than Barcelona
After Saturday night's guestlist adventures I was up and about on Sunday for MORE Exclusive Excitement that had its own, somewhat different, perils.
For LO! I was off to WEMBERLEY there to see Peterborough United compete in the finals of The Vertu Trophy aka The EFL Trophy aka That Competition That Has U21 Premiership Teams In And Is Inherently Ridiculous Until We Get To The Final. Regular readers of this here blog may recall that I went to the very same final LAST year where Posh had been TRIUMPHANT, but this time I was going with significantly more trepidation. Last time our visit had been part of a Surprisingly Good Season where we had done lots of WINNING, whereas this time it has been a Disappointingly Poor Season where we have done lots of BEING RUBBISH. Also, this time we were playing Birmingham City who had been promoted to the Championship as winners of League One on Tuesday by beating...um... US.
I mean, OBVIOUSLY I personally was full of BELIEF - it was other people who said "we might as well sing the If You've Never Lost At Wembley Clap Your Hands song NOW while we still have the chance", and definitely not me - but it was looking distinctly unlikely that we'd be carrying on our proud record of always - ALWAYS - winning at The National Stadium.
Thus entrepidated I headed off to distant West London to meet everyone at the same West Hampstead bar that we accidentally went to last time. On the way there I finished reading "My Cousin Rachel" by D du Maurier, which was AMAZING, and then settled into 90 minutes of BEER and CHAT before heading off to Actual Wembley.
The train was Oddly Quiet on the way but I assume all of the Birmingham fans had already got there as it is probably all very exciting for them as have NOT been to Wembley only a year ago and also may or may not have somehow LOST there at some point in the past. When we arrived we were CHARMED to see Brummies having their photographs taken with the stadium in the background as it reminded us of the simple wonder of playing there when you are not JADED and consider it your home stadium pretty much hem hem.
Last year one of our number, Mr P Bloodworth, had gone viral online with a photograph taken by his son Mr J Bloodworth showing him stuck in the turnstiles, so there was MUCH HILARITY over whether he'd get in or not (he did), followed by EXCITEMENT once through the gates as we looked around to see if there was anybody we knew. Last time Peterborough's then-MP Mr Paul F Bristow had been seen in a nearby bar, THIS time he was spotted lurking around in our area, which seemed like a GOOD OMEN (probably the first time anybody's ever said that about him).
Beer and DODS were purchased then we went into the stadium for what we thought was going to be a bit of a hammering. This was the biggest crowd Posh had EVER played to, and about two thirds of them were Brummies who were in FULL VOICE. However, something strange happened once the game got going and Posh became Quite Good. Not only that, but we scored - TWICE! First of all Harley Mills scored a FABULOUS free kick and then Hector Kyprianou done a WALLOPING great goal from open play, and we found ourselves WINNING before it was half-time.
I tell you what, there were a lot of DAZED looking Posh fans staggering off to the loo, but the excitement was even MORE so for me because, on the way up the stairs, I saw our pal Mr C Dowsett chatting to none other than Craig Mackail-Smith. CMS is a bona fide POSH LEGEND and one of my favourite players EVER so I GRINNED at him, caught his eye, and then... er... sort of WAVED and then ran off up the steps. I am aware that such behaviour may seem odd to most, who surely view me as an ICE COOL ROCK STAR, but my dears I was quite overcome and had to have a RELAXING BEER to try and calm myself down a bit. Craig Mackail-Smith!!
The second half contained no more goals but was VERY exciting and then nerve-wracking as it went on to the ONE HUNDRED AND SECONDTH MINUTE, but in the end we came out as not only WINNERS but with a massive bag of EXCITING STATS. Not only are we the ONLY team to have ever retained the highly prestigious EFL trophy, but we are the ONLY team to have ever played at Wembley five times and won every time. Previously we were equal with BARCELONA, who had also played there four times and won every one, but now we are technically - and surely ACTUALLY - better than them!
We then hung around for a while to jump around a bit, wave at people above us in the royal box, watch players manhandling the trophy and generally soak up the atmosphere. As you can probably tell I had a BLOODY BRILLIANT day out, and very much hope and EXPECT the same this time again next year. Nothing can go wrong!
posted 14/4/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Jim Bob at Shepherd's Bush Empire
On Saturday evening I met with Mr M Sutton for an evening of ROCK, for LO! we were off to the Shepherd's Bush Empire to see Jim Bob do his epic 40 Years And 40 Songs show. Executive Summary: it was GRATE, also LONG!
We had GUESTLIST tickets thanks to my International Rock Star Chum Mr Chris T-T, who plays KEYBOARDS for Jim Bob. This was a) wonderful but b) slightly terrifying too as I had no idea how being On The Guestlist WORKS at proper big gigs. I know how it works at MY sort of gigs - you go to the door and say "Er.. I think I'm on the guestlist?" and whoever's there looks annoyed, checks a clipboard, and stamps your hand and that's it. However, I've never BEEN on a guestlist at anything above PUB level, so didn't know what would happen. Should I wear formal dinnerwear? Would I have to eat a vol au vent? WHO KNEW?
Nerves were calmed slightly by some BEERS before going, including one of the most - if not THE most - expensive pints I have ever drunk anywhere in the world - EIGHT POUND FIFTY FIVE for just a pint of BEER! This was in The Green in Shepherd's Bush, where apparently it was "match day" (they had Sky Sports on?) which somehow justified it. I take delight in SCOFFING at the YOKEL ANTICS of my fellow Posh fans when they come to London and say "HOW MUCH?!?" in pubs, but gentle reader I must confess I did much the same here.
After that we headed to the gig and asked someone on the door where we went for the guestlist. "The guestlist window" she said, pointing to a window with a sign on it saying "GUESTLIST". We were given tickets and WRISTBANDS and the nice young person behind the glass looked slightly surprised when I asked what the wristbands were for. "They're for the aftershow", they said. "Ooh!" I thought. Or possibly said out loud.
Once inside we found ourselves on a BALCONY which had access to a really really nice bar, which was quieter and also CHEAPER than the one we'd just been in. It really was very nice indeed, I would have gone there for fun!
Suitably provided for we went and found some seats - SEATS!! - and settled in for the show. "I could get used to this", I said to Mr Sutton, and we agreed that it was v pleasant to have nice comfy chairs and a good view. At this point the view was of none other than Mr Spoons, who played at Totally Acoustic last year. Back then I had been surprised to see how NERVOUS he was about playing a gig in the upstairs room of The King & Queen, but I was now ASTONISHED by how CONFIDENT he was jumping, gyrating and dancing around onstage in front of several thousand people while occasionally dashing to the microphone to introduce the next record. It was pretty spectacular!
The spectacularity continued at precisely 8pm when Jim Bob himself came on and launched into a FORTY (40) song set. I mean, I knew that was the plan, but I'd assumed large chunks of it would have been MEDLEYS but oh no, not a bit of it, he played literally forty songs in a SPRINGSTEENESQUE marathon of ROCK that lasted almost THREE HOURS!!
The first couple of songs were just him on his own, but then his PIANIST came on and LO! it was the aforemention Chris T-T. This reminded me of the time we say Prolapse supporting Mogwai at The Roundhouse and I kept thinking "Oh look, there's Tim... onstage in front of thousands of people." This time it was Chris, what I was in the pub with a few weeks ago, just over there beneath a proscenium arch, ROCKING OUT. It was a bit strange, and made more so later on when Steve Pretty (who me and Steve shared a venue with in Edinburgh back in 2010) came on later as part of the horn section.
The full band came on after about half an hour and sounded AMAZING. It reminded me of what I imagine it must have been like in the mid-1970s going to see WINGS in their full Venus & Mars era POMP as a stadium band, with everyone ROCKING OUT through a range of HITS past and present. I must admit I do not know a huge amount of the Jim Bob back catalogue, but it sounded GRATE and was ESPECIALLY so when they did The Hits. When he sang "the grebos the crusties and the goths" in "The Only Living Boy In New Cross" I must admit I WELLED UP. When that song came out it was talking about The Modern Kids, but now it felt like a callback to history. "That was US!" I thought.
Occasionally we would peer over the edge of the balcony, looking down from our lofty vantage point to see the downstairs audience going FLIPPING CRAZY. The MOSHPIT was massive and MOBILE, with everybody bouncing around in great waves of dancing, and LOADS of crowd-surfing. The security staff were kept extremely busy and I must admit I did feel for them, as your modern Jim Bob audience is very much NOT all made up of the Skinny Indie Kid of yore. There will have been some sore knees and backs to go with the sore heads on Sunday!
INDEED the only thing I would even vaguely have changed is the fact that there was no break, which posed some difficulties for the CORE AUDIENCE i.e. everybody needed to go to the loo at least SEVERAL times each, but as we were all very much in the same bladder-boat as each other nobody seemed to mind, and a general air of COMRADERY pervaded the venue.
Mr Sutton headed off for his train just before the end - we knew it was nearly the end due to a) counting the songs (more people should specify exactly how many songs they're doing) and b) the fact that Fruitbat had come on, to the EXTREME delight of the whole room. I stayed in my comfy seat and then after the encores when everyone was heading out I went to another member of security staff and asked where I was meant to go for the aftershow. "Just here," she said, stepping aside to give me access to exactly the same lovely bar I'd been in before.
I very sensibly got myself a pint of Alcohol Free Guiness and then hung around for a bit, bumping into Steve Who Used To Put Gigs On In Cambridge, which was lovely, said hello to Mr Spoons, and then went and gave Chris a BIG HUG to say thanks for letting me come before disappearing into the night for my TOOB. It really was a lovely evening - I think I could get used to being on the guestlist, it was ace!
posted 13/4/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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The Book Is Now Half Price!
A couple of days ago I received the rather WONDERFUL news that the price of MY BOOK has been SLASHED in HALF! This brings it down from the slightly crazy price of £89.99 to the slightly less crazy but yes all right still quite expensive £44.99!
I'm very pleased INDEED about this because the previous price was SO MUCH there was no way on earth I could expect anybody to actually BUY it - I think the idea is that LIBRARIES buy it, but to be honest I can't imagine there being loads of libraries that woudl DO so. I'm sure there are lots of people around the world who would a) WANT to b) BENEFIT from knowing more about Doctor Doom, especially with the movie and all that on the way, but I don't think there'd ever be sufficient geographical concentration of such people to warrant a library buying one.
Obviously £44.99 is still A LOT for a book so I'm still not expecting to hit the Times Bestsellers Chart, but with VOUCHERS and DISCOUNT CODES regularly available that might still bring it down enough for Actual Humans to get copies. Having said that I'm going to see if I can get a VOUCHER CODE for the next NEWSLETTER, which will bring it into the Vaguely Do-Able price bracket, so who knows, we could be TOP OF THE (booK) POPS yet!
posted 8/4/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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My Clem Burke Story Story
With the recent sad news about the death of the amazing Clem Burke, lots of people have come out with STORIES about the great man. I don't have a story about him, but I do have a story ABOUT a story that was vaguely related to him, which I should like to recount for you now.
Like so many of the gentle folk we know as "drummers" he LOVED drumming, to the extent that he had ended up playing GIGS with a Blondie tribute band called Bootleg Blondie. Here he is talking about it, and also another project he was working on with them.
As stated above, such was his enthusiasm for ROCK that he had also got involved with Bootleg Blondie writing some NEW songs of their own and they ended up writing LOADS of songs about London In General for a proposed ROCK OPERA. However, what the video above doesn't tell you is that they did this BEFORE thinking of an actual STORY to go with it, and that is where I very very slightly entered the scene.
For LO! Clem Burke was pals with someone who works at UAL, and they were pals with somebody else that I know there, and this person knew that I'd done some WRITING in the past so suggested that they get in touch with me to see if I had any suggestions about a STORY. To be clear, I sadly never met Clem Burke or Bootleg Blondie (which is a SPOILER for how this all turned out!) but I DID have a couple of chats with the lovely UAL person, and came up with some THORTS about how the story might work.
The main issues, as far as I could see, were that a) the songs were all generally about London itself, without anything to link them and b) neither Clem Burke nor Actual Blondie were involved in their writing, so there wasn't a particular HOOK for Producers. However, I thought there MIGHT be something in the whole idea of COVER VERSIONS and revisiting the past to learn about the future and so I came up with the following PITCH which I am DELIGHTED to finally share with people!
HISTORICAL RECORDS*What's that you say? "Space aliens? WHO WOULD HAVE THORT?!?" Yes, I know, it is a radical departure from my usual OUVRE but I thought it might work!
This is a story about how exciting it can be to discover the sounds of what's gone before, but also about the dangers of trying to cling slavishly to a vision of how things used to be. The "hook" here is that this is also the story of a Clem and The Booties - coming together through something wonderful from the past, but then creating something new for themselves out of the experience.
Earth in the far future. After centuries of flooding the oceans have finally receded and a team of alien archaeologists have arrived to excavate the ruins of the strange civilisation that was buried by the rising sea.
They discover a series of ancient relics from "London", which they don't understand. A tube roundel is clearly "for religious purposes", declares Professor ZPENG, their leader.
Young researcher FNONG scans it with a Retrovibatron, an alien device which restores the item by reviving its core essence - in practical terms, it generates a song related to it which makes object like new. So here, the roundel is returned to its old glory, and a song about London emerges.
Excited by this discovery they keep digging. They find a street sign for Denmark Street and then a Mary Quant dress and do the same process. For every item ZPENG comes up with a theory about its religious significance, and then FNONG uses the Retrovibatron to tell the real story whilst making the object like new.
As they interact with these songs and stories the aliens are gradually changed. ZPENG becomes obsessed with accuracy, trying to exactly recreate the past and always getting it wrong - wearing clothes upside down, using a guitar for the religious ceremony "Cricket" and so on. FNONG falls in love with the joy of the songs and the humans who made them.
ZPENG insists his version is correct, and so FNONG decides to prove him wrong. She finds an urn marked "Dave" - could this be the original "humans" who lived here? She uses the Retrovibatron and, to her surprise, the urn smashes and an actual human emerges. DAVE.
Unfortunately DAVE is a bit of a twit, who knows almost as much about the real world as ZPENG. He's also a climate sceptic, who insists the whole world being flooded was just a bit of bad weather.
FNONG keeps coming up with items and songs that reveal the truth, and ZPENG and DAVE fight back, each finding their own items to use the Retrovibatron on. DAVE is particularly keen on getting a working toilet going.
Finally they come to blows and, in the heat of battle, turn the Retrovibatron on each other. Suddenly whole new songs emerge about them - the adventures they've had together, the discoveries they've made, and who they are themselves.
Reunited by the power of this realisation - that they have their own stories to tell which have as much value as anything from the past - the aliens leave the earth in search of new adventures. The spaceship takes off full of anticipation and happiness.
There's the sound of a toilet flushing, and DAVE wanders in. "Where is everybody?"
*better title needed!
It will come as NO surprise to anyone to discover that this was NOT what anyone was after, which is more than fair enough, but I was still disappointed that I never got to go to the pub with Clem Burke to talk about it. Still, it was lovely to have very slightly brushed up against a genuine ROCK LEGEND, especially as an adjunct to a project born out of that MOST wonderful and DRUMMERLY instinct to Just Make Some Music. We should all do more things like that!
posted 8/4/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Progress Report
As those sensible people who follow my SOCIALS will know, this year I've been looking back at some of my OLD BLOGS from the distant days of 2003. Ideally I would have thought to do this two years when it would have been a nice round twentieth anniversary, but unfortunately Bob Fischer (from whom I nicked the idea) didn't start doing HIS look back at old diaries until last year, so I guess that means it's his fault!
There have been multiple benefits from doing this, not least forcing me to listen again to various old songs which are QUITE GOOD and be reminded of all sorts of JAPES which I hadn't thought about for many years. However, the most beneficial benefit might be the fact that I am getting some idea of what it is like to READ my blogs, rather than just write them. OBVIOUSLY the key result of THIS is usually me thinking "Wot important and incisive insights" but I must admit that sometimes I think "Why are you bothering to tell people this, me of the past? Why don't you wait until someting actually HAPPENS, instead of endlessly wittering on about every random idea you've had for something that probably WON'T?"
That experience explains why there haven't been a lot of MODERN blogs just lately, as lots of stuff has been going on for ME, but it isn't necessarily of interest to anyone else. No no, I insist, it really isn't, don't write in!
Much of this has been to do with the SHOW, both in terms of ADMIN and indeed PERFORMANCE. Last week, for example, I did a complete REJIG of the Data And Doctor Doom website (which is much nicer now), bought various pieces of GEAR, and processed the process of booking a whole bunch of GIGS which aren't quite ready to announce yet. It's all good ADMIN but it's pretty much the same sort of thing every day, so not hugely newsworthy.
Similarly I've been preparing myself to DO the show through a combination of my TWO usual practices. Firstly I've been learning the SONGS as usual by a) singing them a lot and b) muttering the words to myself all day long like a loon to force them into my BRANE. Secondly I've been learning the SLIDES by going through them again and again and changing them every time. I am horribly aware that this whole thing is going to be really HARD to learn as it's Saying Things AND Playing Guitar AND Singing AND Changing Slides all at the same time. What idiot thought that was a good idea?
Anyway, hopefully that has demonstrated the levels of excitement that have been missed over the past few weeks, but all being well there'll be a bit more to come soon as things actually HAPPEN!
posted 8/4/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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An Artists Against Success Presentation