Blog No. 32
Monday, March 29, 2010 at 8:50PM It was only when I was telling a friend what I’d been up to over the last few weeks that I realised what a busy time I’ve had of late (at least for me, I’m sure for a person who likes busy-ness like Melvyn Bragg or Dame Helena Kennedy it would seem quite quiet). I did the Leicester Cultural Xchanges festival which was very nice. It was organised by students who are taking a BA course in festival management so it was a bit like having your hair done by trainee hairdressers or going to one of those places where catering students get to practice on the public. Me and Matthew Norman went to one place like that called the Vincent Rooms to review it for the Guardian and we got so drunk because the wines were very reasonably priced that I tried to give my Oyster Card to the cloakroom girl in exchange for my coat. I missed the train I was supposed to get to Leicester and it was only the nice policeman at the station who rescued me and put me in a taxi. I also didn’t get time to eat the cheese salad they’d prepared for me so I took it and ate it on the train back to London. Which means I also have a very nice square black plate now which I’ve been putting fruit on. Sometime I think about sending the plate back to Leicester De Montfort University but then who would be responsible for returned plates?
Southend Library was very well organised and a great audience of over two hundred (take that Russell Howard) and Huddersfield was also terrific. I’d never been there before and was astonished at how beautiful the town centre is and I also had a very reasonably priced pizza over the road from my hotel. The audience were very serious at Huddersfield, we spent a long time talking about Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance then somebody asked what I thought about identity politics. I didn’t know what this was so they explained that Identity politics refers to political arguments that focus upon the self interest and perspectives of social minorities, or self-identified social interest groups. I said that this was all getting a bit serious and I was more used to being asked questions about The Young Ones or what it was like when I was working with the Daleks. She replied that in fact the Daleks were a good example of Identitiy Politics since they acted as a coherent group based solely on their Dalekness.
I checked with my agent and she said that actually I own the rights to “All New...” and “Merry go round” and that we hadn’t signed them over over to the BBC because otherwise they’d be streaming them for free to mobile phones and so on. But if Worldwide or somebody esle wanted to make me an offer I’d happily let them do DVDs of these shows, so its still worth lobbying though apparently the DVD market isn’t what it was due to the BBC be streaming programmes for free to mobile phones and so on.
Reader Comments (21)
i had a look on a certain video sharing website and i do believe there is a young Peter Capaldi in Drunk In Time. whatever happened to him?
the comments seem to ask for the Bobby Chariot - Warm Up man sketches?
someone posted them up recently.
'has anyone here had electrodes attached to their genitals?'
begs the extension
'has anyone else here had electrodes attached to their genitals?'
Serious Audiences
How about the Taliban in Helmand?
When they say we are bringing democracy does that mean the 'good' Taliban are taking uk sponsored classes in political science covering topics like The Mixed Regime and the Rule of Law, The Sovereign State in Hobbes' Leviathan, Constitutional Government in Locke's Second Treatise perhaps mixing in a bit of criticism like Marx and Sartre if the lads can back from the poppy harvest?
Will there be plane loads of good Taliban on cultural exchange visits turning up to walk about Westminster and meet MPs?
You stumbled around a train station with a plate of cheese salad and then took it with you in a taxi? Let's have that CCTV-footage on YouTube! LOL!
I enjoyed seeing you at Leicester uni and have also been enjoying the copy of Barcelona Plates I picked up that night, great stuff although the guy interviewing you didn't really seem to have much idea about your work which was a bit of a bummer!
Being directed about by students?! Wasn't that a sketch that ends in them dying by cliff-drop?! Tee hee, agreed Evelyn, youtube gold...the travellings of a forlorn Cheese salad as it sees the nation from the edge of a decorative plate :)
Classic Barcelona Plates. I did read it once and loved it, but since I got the audio book off Ebay it's taken on a further dimension. It's a collection that has be heard read out loud to get the best of it I think.
And the DVDs, maybe BBC isn't the best to release on with their fancy Iplayers and newfangled moby streaming. Other companies such as Playback are good, as are Network who just bought out Whoops Apocalypse. Although I've been in HMV and can't seem to find it...
xx
...hi i'm posting here because I always found alexie sayle very amusing and apparently socially aware...i wanted to post a link to a campaign about MPs salaries...I realise that middle class tossers(as alexie referred to his social class on telly the other day) may want to protect the right to large salaries and a comfortable lifestyle, while conveniently forgetting that it's not just because they are so fantastic that they achieve that position, it's because most of the worlds population slaves for minimal earnings or starves to produce the stuff that is sold to make money for banks to prop up rich countrys where the bankers live.
http://themeaningofevents.wordpress.com/act-to-limit-uk-mps-salaries/
Saw this one again...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_week/8155552.stm
So cool. That's why the world needs an Alexei. Who else.
hi Alexei...wondering if you can help, many years ago i heard one of, which i think, being a biker,,,one of your funniest tracks, the motorbike rider one..drop down a cog give it a handful,,etc, cracks me up every time....sadly, it was on tape, and i no longer have the tape, where can i get my hands on this track
ever hopeful
bob
Hi Bob - I'm sure this wasn't a song (was it?) but a bit of stand-up from Alexei Sayle's Stuff, series 1, episode 6....' I was laughing, my mate was laughing, we dropped down a cog, give it handful, come round the roundabout, we're going so fast now our molecules are starting to vibrate...' that one? You can get it on DVD quite easily, I recommend Ebay. :)
Nice link Evelyn, always a giggle!
xx
yep jay, that is the one,,i'll have a look for it
cheers
"And eeh dant like eet, nah, eeh dant like eet!"
old billl, right, clever bastards..
somethings never change eh...lol
Ok, this has nothing to do with anything, but it's my birthday next tuesday...April 20th!
xx
Dear Mr. Sayle et al,
I don't know if this has been dealt with before, so apologies for pointless repetition. I've been reading from Jay (which just happens to be my eldest son's name). I don't know if it's you or not Jay. But, if it is you, get off the computer now and get your homework done! comments on the audio tapes of Barcelona Plates, and gather there are recordings out there in some dark and dank vault. Having just signed up to an audio book website, which shall remain nameless; I did a search on the aforesaid site for 'Alexei Sayle' which yielded, amongst others, the following; The Time Traveler's Wife, (Unabridged) by Audrey Niffenegger and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson. Both worthy tomes no doubt, but not what I was looking for!
Or, are these pen names of our beloved bard I wonder? But, I doubt it. I realise there may be concerns regarding Somali pirates etc. copying recordings and selling them on to unsuspecting customers at car boot 'Sayles'. But, I suspect that angle has been covered by the audio book people. Otherwise they wouldn't make much money, would they? Also, audio versions would extend the readership (listenership to be pedantic) into the blind/partially sighted customer base. We also have to consider those amongst us whom are too lazy to turn pages or cannot support the additional weight of a book whilst lying in bed with a cup of tea and a biscuit,
So, how about it Mr. Sayle? You could even sell 'copies' of your books from your own website perhaps? Thus cutting out the middle-people. 'Profit is made at the point of production', as my mum used to tell me whenever I wanted a pair of grossly over-priced designer trainers made in some third world sweatshop.
Also, many thanks to you Mr. Sayle for the free Fish People MP3. Salutations, Ed.
By way of a P.S. to my comment (15) Unless all of your audio recordings were done in one of those recording booths as featured in Brighton Rock, there's a pretty good chance the master recordings will be have been cryogenically frozen by the record companies. What about an 'Alexeithology' re-mastering job on the lot?
Best regards, regards, regards...
Ed (aka 3rd Baronet of Ballykenny)
Oh, that'd be Jay's Birthday today then?
Indeed comrade Dan, actually, our our Jay was born on the same day, or thereabouts, as the publication of the 2nd edition (paperback) of our beloved bard's seminal 'Great Bus Journeys of the World'. On his (our our Jay's that is) last birthday I bought him a rather fetching designer LFC 'beanie' hat in red and black, made in the same Third World sweatshop as the previously mentioned trainers no doubt (cf. comment 13 Blog 32), as modeled by the current herd of donkeys at Anfield. The look of complete and utter dejection on his face was something to behold. He has as much interest in football as I (or the current Liverpool first 11) have in 2nd generation Lego Mindstorms robots.
But, yes Dan, I/we can 'always dream' as William Faulkner reminds us. But, don't make them our fascist Dictators. I hope they, the dreams of downloads of entire 'the works of', aren't trod on though!
Any sign of Blog number 33? I hope our Mr. Sayle hasn't come down with anything nasty; bubonic plague springs to mind - given his 14h Century tour of Europe. These bugs can hang around for ages apparently. We fans do worry Mr. Sayle. Just a note saying 'bugger off I'm busy' would suffice.
Oh, and an erratum is due. In my comment (15) I referred to 'comment (15)' when it should have been comment (14). Standards are slipping.
Fraternal greetings to all,
Che (aka Third Baronet of Ballykenny)
Ah, you remembered! Lol, thanks Dan! How I am alive this morning i do not know...I had too much cheap vermouth! And I've also got plenty of friends who love reminding me I share my birthday with Hitler...
Blog 33, where do you be?!?!?
xx
Greetings from north west of the M60,
I think a coup d'etat is in the air. In the meantime I'd highly recommend 'not going on Safari'; see 'navigation/links' top right of this page. I'm not from London, and seldom visit; though I did spend 48 hours there in a squat and working as a window cleaner. But, the themes Rose Rouse addresses are universal, mais non?
Best regards,
Win Some (aka Che)
P.S.
I'm pretty sure the squat I spent two nights in London in wasn't in Harlesden or Willesden or Harlesden-Willesden. Though wasn't Willesden the location of a 1970s TV programme, maybe a sitcom? It's odd how the names of the various boroughs, streets etc. in London resonate in a way that, with a few exceptions, their counterparts in other UK cities such as Battlefield, Langside or Castlemilk don't. The capital city syndrome I expect.
By the way it struck me that coup d'etat, as well as sounding like something served with pomme frites sans curry sauce, would be a plausible name for an eatery. And, low and behold, there is actually one located at 164, Rue Saint Honoré, 75008 Paris.