August 2017 - Avanti

On The Case

30th August 2017/in 2016/by Crayfish

I was packing the flight case in which The Spurting Man show, props and costumes etc. has travelled the world for twenty odd years when it struck me how many performers must have similar cases packed with similar tat. When sending this stuff by freight I have to fill in the value and its always a tough call, as the real value, what its worth on E.bay, would be about £50 (mainly for the case) but the value to me on the gig is huge, I mean how could I replace a plastic water spurting crown at short notice its not exactly a B&Q item! Here are three such other cases from a recent dressing room. Traps cases from SticklebackPlasticus, MC Fois and Avanti.

The Britannia Music Hall

2nd August 2017/in 2016/by Crayfish

I visited the Panopticon otherwise known as The Britannia Music Hall in Glasgow last week. It is in what might best be described as ‘atmospheric decay’. I loved the playbills and that one can walk on stage to experience how it must have felt performing there. During my visit some of the staff were in the back cracking jokes one of which had them it fits of laughter. This sound, uncontrolled laughter, must have echoed round this building over many years perhaps even Bob Hartley ‘King of the Corn Beef Tin’ stormed it! (See below) News just in – Bob Hartley apparently danced on a corn beef tin and the difficulty of this was where the comedy came from – genius! Being the king of something does rather imply that there were other corn beef tin dancers to be king of imagine that.