I Hate Mornings

I took self publicity to a new level on May Day morning by playing Jungle Book songs at a champagne breakfast in Oriel College and getting booked to play their Guest Night dinner next week! And then on Sunday I played a great set with Jont on Radio 2…

h3. May Day shenanigans

May Morning in Oxford is a wonderful time, when 10,000 or so people gather on Magdelen Bridge at 6am to hear the choir sing from the tower. Then the pubs open at 6:30am and everyone has a few beers and some sausage sandwiches before cheerfully wandering off to work (or back to bed).

This year (my tenth time) was a little more adventurous - we went on a bit of a breakfast crawl round the colleges. And this was how I ended up in the Oriel MCR playing I Wanna Be Like You at 7am. I had expected frowns and possibly expulsion, but instead they asked if they could pay me to entertain the guests at their formal dinner next week. Brilliant.

I’m entertaining the troops at Wolfson College Formal Hall on Friday too, and I haven’t played this sort of singalong/request/comedy set since my residency at the QI Club, so I had better get some practice in.

If you want me to play at your college, let me know! I’m on a roll.

h3. How many Johnnie Walkers does it take…

My dad’s called Johnnie Walker. So was his dad. And his grandad. And my cousin is also a Johnnie Walker. And now that I’m thinking about it my first name is John, which makes me a Johnnie Walker too! So I was almost dreading meeting Johnnie Walker, Radio 2 DJ and all-round legend. As it turns out I had nothing to worry about. His real name is Peter Dingley.

The session was super quick - Johnnie started interviewing Jont as he tuned up (and I set up the piano really quietly in the corner), then we had about 2 minutes to soundcheck before Johnnie introduced Candlelit. My banjo playing was extraordinary, as usual, and the whole vibe was very energetic and fun. Another 2 minute gap while Mr Walker played some sixties pop hit or other, then we kicked off a splendid rendition of Supernatural - as good as we’ve ever played it, I reckon.

h3. Next stop, Glastonbury

Jont has managed to blag us Glastonbury tickets, which means we’ll be playing the Small World stage sometime on Glasto weekend. We have “more gigs”:http://www.jontnet.com before then, but I’ll be happy finally to play the famous festival only a year after “my brother”:http://www.myspace.com/asilentfilm made it there. ;o)