Spoonful of Poison

Ooooh that was a really great night last time. A classic. Well done Vis, well done everyone! The Boilermakers rocked (well they improvised) and everyone else was ace, including the Wormlady and Miss Roberts.

Vis the Spoon

I'm playing Spoonful of Poison at the Urban Bar in Whitechapel tonight. With Matt. It will be our first live Boilermakers outing.

Here's a drawing of Vis the Spoon which I did last time I played there.

Vis the Spoon

He's the ultimate action host!

Vis the Spoon's 'Spoonful of Poison'

Played Vis's night at the Urban Bar opposite Whitechapel tube yesterday. There were some hiccups in his rather anarchical evening but I enjoyed my little set. I did Reuters material, using the stories from Reuters items, improvising with my Microkorg and my Zoom drum machine. I particularly enjoyed interpreting the two stories about the ice fishing competition in China and the ice swimming in Moscow. Thank you Vis, you are such a tremendously witty and warm host. Vis was so kind, he said 'I've found the new Ivor Cutler, and it's Jude Cowan'. I was so pleased, even though he's terribly gracious and flattering he's not full of shit so he must have meant something to compare me to Ivor Cutler. Well, it makes me feel good today to think of it!

I met Matt at an Ivor Cutler evening hosted by Roddy Lumsden so that makes me feel even more wonderful when our names are mentioned together ...

Spoonful of Poison

Yesterday evening took the Minipops, the Microkorg and me out to the Lion in Stoke Newington to play at Vis the Spoon's open mic bonanza, Spoonful of Poison. I did a few improvised xmas numbers. Was fun. I particularly enjoyed singing a rather wobbly and experimental 'Silent Night'. I'd meant to sing it in German (I can't speak German but it's fun to sing in, especially with my impossible no-good accent) but I'd left the lyrics somewhere and so I could only sing the four words I could remember before commencing other vocal patterns. Was great fun! Roll on Helen McCookerybook's Xmas party when I can have another go at xmas vocalisations with electronica in front of unsuspecting guests.

Minipops goes slower!

Matt took apart the Minipops and fixed it so it's slower. I now have a workstation in the home studio with a little Mackie desk and various bits, an old tape recorder (one of those industrial ones from a primary school), the Minipops drum machine, the Microkorg, and the gooseneck mic from the Microkorg going straight into the other Mackie channel. I'm going to do some Christmas stories / fables using the set up on Wednesday when I've got a gig at Spoonful of Poison. I think it's Weds, better check that with Vis the Spoon, the gracious host.

I love my new set up. All I want now is a nice Moog pedal (maybe a ring modulator?) to put through the aux sends, so I can put nice processing effects on all the different sounds. Well, that is the spirit of Christmas!