I don’t believe people who claim that January feels like the longest month. As I write this, it’s suddenly mid-February and it feels like 2023 is whizzing by a lot faster than I’d like. Possibly because I’ve taken on more than ever, more than likely because I’m enjoying it all.
The teaching has been great fun so far, I’m beyond fully-booked (6 days a week), my plan for 2023 was to cut down my teaching hours a bit and, well, see my wife occasionally. I mean, we live in the same house and all that, but our schedules certainly don’t match. The problem is, and I appreciate it’s a nice problem to have, is that the lessons have been so much fun that I don’t have the heart to ‘drop’ any students. If anything, I’ve spent a little time preparing myself to work harder…I’ve got a Nespresso machine and, because I’m quite a loud shouty man, I’ve bought a steamer for my throat which is so amazing I’m just gutted I didn’t know about these years ago. Aware that others can benefit from these lessons alongside my students (fun/learning) and me (money), I’m working quietly behind the scenes on our Drummers to the Rescue scheme where charities benefit from this, too. In short, more student gigs in the pipeline (the next one is at The Portland Arms in Cambridge on 26th March), recordings and all that.
I’ve also launched a project where I teach celebrities how to drum, in return for a free lesson they have to sign the snare head. It’ll all get auctioned off when I get to 100 celebs for the Trussell Trust. It’s been trickier than I’d hoped, but it will happen. Team Building with Drums (aka The Drumming Sportsday) continues to be great fun, do drop me a message if your workplace could do with a lanky man, 30 pieces of percussion and a few games to pop in for a couple of hours.
Show-wise, Harvey Greenfield is Running Late continues to…well, run. The film will be out at some point, as far as I know, it’s all done, but it’s all out of my hands. I’ve let Harvey 2 (the awkward follow-up) go for now, the national press liked it, audiences were nice about it, but I never really felt like it excited me, even though I wrote the thing. It was just ‘nice’. I get bored of ‘nice’. My new show, though, is ridiculous. It’s called ‘Is this the end of Edward J Payne’ and opens publicly in May. It’s an absolute git to learn as it’s effectively a 2-hour show crammed into 55 minutes and, in the early script-in-hand previews so far, I’ve realised just how physically exhausting this one will be. It’s good for me, though, yeah? I also have another new show opening in Brighton called ‘The Only Drummer in Town’ which is a drumming comedy show, I’m in my comfort zone with this one, but that’s not always a bad thing. Also, on the same day, yet another new play opens, it’s called ‘D-List’ - it’s a play I’ve written, but won’t be in, although I’ll be directing it. More soon on that.
Right, it’s a Saturday night which only means one thing: life admin, mostly!