Ginger DJ Rob

Glow was an amazing multi-media and modern dance performance as part of the Brighton Festival. Held in Fabrica we were seated looking down at a white gymnastic white floor. The sound effects and eerie music kicked off and a dancer crawled out as if trapped in a padded cell. The projected light effects interacted with her as she squirmed, stretched and writhed around. Some of the lights were pulsing, other created a phased or shadowed pattern around her. The shadows were particular effective at simulating what could be described as demons possessing the dancer and actually scared the crap out of a small girl who's mum quickly took her away. Hopefully the YouTube video will give you a better idea. Saturday was more DIY with the evening watching the Euro-politics - what the f*ck is up with that! No wonder Terry Wogan is quitting. Sunday was a packed day of hosting mates and family to a lamb roast, killing and burying rats in the garden (found a large one amongst the flowers and anoth...

The Tom Tom Club had been on almost every day throughout the Fringe and, for a 2 for 1 ticket deal, it was one of the best for value and entertainment. We were half expecting a small crowd but all seats were taken for this hip-hop spectacular. The Aussie club were made up of a DJ, drummer/musician, human beat-boxer and a number of acrobats and kept the crowd entranced and pumped up with a high energy show. It was hard to pick what were the highlights as they were all so good but the beat-box bloke was incredible as he replicated a pitch perfect drum'n'bass DJ sound switching over to a hip-hop sound.

I can see why we chose this. The Terrible Infants was billed as: 'Roald Dahl meets Tim Burton in this award-winning show that blends puppetry, live music, storytelling and physicality into a highly sensory theatrical feast.' However, after ten minutes into the performance it was more like Playschool meets Jackanory. Don't get me wrong, the actors playing it were hugely talented all singing, all dancing, all acting, all playing an array of instruments. We just wanted something more adult. It was relief at the end though the same Fringe lovee who awarded the Moustache thing did the same at this show.

No DIY on Saturday as we were fully booked for Fringe events. The Last Resort was an unusual but full of charm play using one or two puppets but mainly actors with masks. The acting, production, music, everything was really well done creating a unique creepy and sometimes dark fairytale world. Personal highlight was the naked devil puppet. Straight after was I, Lear - two thespian actor characters named Hugh (or Huge) and Chesty taking us through different types of writers' plays and generally mocking their style. Overall it was very funny but couldn't been funnier if I was more clued up with playwright stuff. We actually had another set of tickets for Catchy! a musical about the plague but we couldn't really find the venue and couldn't be arsed either. Sunday was a long slog at laying the laminate floor but returned to the Fringe with a ticket to The Haunted Moustache . Strange title and a local real story of David Bramwell inheriting his aunt's moustache explain...

I knew it was too good to be true. Having checked my holiday leave entitlement, HR had fudged up the numbers and I was now in minus figures with the Glastonbury week off and proposed week off for DIY. Instead I have three days off to do the laminate flooring and prepare the new extended room for next week's visitors. Glastonbury has also been cut short of it's recovery period The local B & Q and Jewson store's' profits must have jumped this month with me buying all sorts of tools and materials. By the end of the day we'd leveled off the front room floor to match the dining room floor height plus a hatch cut out ready for the electrician to change the socket. Sasha, my adopted cat was taken to the vet for another whoppingly high bill. Pure little geezer had been squeezing out blooded poos which meant a blood test, injection, pills and poo analysis. £172 later the vet announced that the blood test revealed a clean bill of health, surprising for an old man like him...

Like the new Gladiators TV programme, you couldn't get away from the media promotion of the Radio 1 Big Weekend - seriously Sky Broadcasting, showing an advert every frigging minute you can is a serious overdose of sugar-coated shite down our throats. Anyway, ignoring all the major acts it was interesting to hear that Justice had to pull out last minute. Zane Lowe announced it in the BBC3 programme saying it was due to some French court action for their latest video 'Stress'. I can see how the video could have upset some people as a gang of hoodies go on a rampage. However, I've found zilch on any news to do with this. If anyone finds anything, please tell me.

James, a good mate from my Uni days got hitched at the weekend and we went along to join the ceremony. Couldn't make the Friday night Fringe gig as James' DJ (another Uni mate) pulled out last week so I had to prepare accordingly. There was a strict playlist of typical wedding tunes based on old disco but I refused to play The Nolan Sisters, even for a mate. Not that I own anything by them but all tunes were supplied by CD. Bridport in Dorset was a long 3 and half hour drive but a cute country market town. Our evening's stay was the Tiger Inn which was ok apart from no car park and very little off-street places either. With a 4pm start there wasn't alot to see really but found out we should have booked nearer the coast for an amazing beach. The Bull Hotel was an amazing place with tasteful Georgian decor. The main function room had a double height ceiling and a minstrel balcony where I spotted the DJ booth! Everything went without a problem although James looked very pa...

Another Fringe event last night at Komedia to see the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre. Managed to get front row seats though was slightly distracted at being able to see the bloke behind the screen preparing his socks. My previous post included a link to a YouTube video of their opening song, 'I'm a sock'. This led to some inter-sock banter and the misunderstanding of Halloween as hello Ian. The postcode conversation was very funny which went along the lines of 'do you know the postcode for Sheffield?' with the reply of 'S', 'Will you tell me the postcode for Sheffield?', 'S'. This went on with another postcode 'OK'...you get the idea. There were a few one dimensional jokes and scenes which could have tested anyone's patience but the puppets came back with some cracking content like a Brighton special performance of Sock Mods and Rockers and EMOs. The last scene was a sock version of Romeo & Juliet. Kerry reminded me of ...

Our Fringe experience continued with another visit to the E4 cow themed arena. This time it was a parody on Harry Potter as two guys presented their version of all 7 books within 90 minutes. The cast had to be on their best behaviour for the kiddies attending. They managed to get some adult humour joking about Dumbledore being the only one in the village. There was some fun audience participation with their re-enacted Quiddich game which was basically a scrappy game of beach volleyball. The guy in glasses looked very much like a Dick or Dom, he could be related. Potted Potter website Booked a couple more events straight after the performance. Here's a full list of what we're seeing (anyone' s welcome to join us):- The Bell The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet - see this YouTube video Le Scandal The Last Resort I, Lear Catchy! The Great Plague Musical The Haunted Moustache The Terrible Enfants Glow Eyes Down! Bingo with Ida Barr (not sure yet)

Image by trainman74 via Flickr This weekend launched our first Brighton Festival and Fringe - possibly one of the best benefits of living in Brighton. There's so much going on and we've already clocked up over £150 worth of tickets mainly bought on their unusual content or title. Take Friday's play, 'The Extraordinary Mugging of Mr Winterbottom' at the Three and Ten, 10 Steine Street. The venue was great little drinking hole with a small but cosy stage upstairs. The play itself was very well scripted and the two main actors did a fine job capturing the intense but witty atmosphere of a tube train journey. I'm sure there were some Street Fighter II references in there. Shame there were so little of us in the audience. They've done a YouTube video if anyone's interested. After that we got chatting to the box office lady, Nicky who was directing another event at the venue called the Haunted Moustache , another ticket we've bought for later this mon...

Not much socialising lately or going out. Jake’s birthday bash wasn’t quite what we expected. A lot of his so-called mates didn’t turn up and the after-party didn’t really happen. The builders’ visits have becoming more and more infrequent but all the big changes have been done including the plastering of the lounge ceiling. My mum’s house is finally on the market. I’ve completed the HIP myself and found a really cheap online estate agent called Hatched.co.uk which can advertise on Rightmove . Instead of paying the 1 to 2% commission using a high street estate agent I only pay about £250 to advertise and another £250 on completion. All this should save me a packet. Thing is, it was the For Sale sign that’s generated the actual interest from people walking by! Two of them lived on the same street and one noticed it from viewing another. Quite amazing for a road that’s less travelled. Grand Theft Auto 4 has arrived though disappointingly we’ve played it just once. With the amo...