Complete and Utter Madness
Big news about our big Tenth Anniversary Show...
Hello friends!
I trust you’re all very well. Apologies for the late delivery of this newsletter - I spent much of last week in bed, or, at the very least, in close proximity to a toilet. I must have picked something up on my travels over the Easter break, which made for a somewhat, let’s say uncomfortable, week. I’ll spare you the details perhaps. But on the plus side, I got the chance to catch up on some reading, which was most welcome. Silver linings all around.
What’s more, if I’d written to you this time last week, I’d have had little in the way of news to share with you vis-a-vis our big Anniversary Show at Wilton's Music Hall on May 20th. But, over the course of last week, we were able to lock in two further guests for our birthday lineup, and I’m very excited to share them with you today.
First up, we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve managed to secure the storytelling services of none other than Graham McPherson! Graham is a former butcher’s assistant and painter/decorator from Hastings, and he’s someone we’ve been wanting to get on the show for absolutely ages.
‘Graham who?’, you might be asking. Never heard of him? Hardly a headline-name is he? You might justifiably be wondering why we’re so pumped to have him on the show at all, let alone headlining our anniversary gig.
But then you probably know him better by his stage name…
It’s bloody SUGGS!!! From Madness!!! The lead singer of one of the biggest selling pop bands in the UK. He’s a genuine, bona-fide musical legend! And he’s coming on our show on May 20th to tell a story about a song that changed his life! I can scarcely believe it.
And, as if that weren’t news enough, we’ll also be welcoming back our old friend Joe Dunthorne!
Joe is the best-selling author of the novels Submarine, Wild Abandon and The Adulterants as well as his most recent non-fiction book Children of Radium (previously recommended most strongly in this very newsletter). More importantly for our purposes, Joe was the very first guest on our second ever show on May 20th 2016, and we wanted to invite him back to tell a brand new story to celebrate our birthday. He’s already told me what he’s going to be talking about, and I’m obviously not going to tell you what it is, except to say his chosen song is a proper banger…
As you already know, we’re also welcoming back the very lovely Alice Vincent…
It’ll be Alice’s fourth time as a guest on the show, which is really rather lovely, and her appearance coincides with the paperback launch of her new book, Hark: How Women Listen, which is released on May 7th (and which you can buy from our bookshop!)
And, as also previously hinted at, seeing as it’s our party and we can tell a story ourselves if we want to, Adam and I are both going to take to the stage with another song-inspired tale each.
Given that nearly every time I’ve had to tell a story on the show in the past it’s been as a result of a guest pulling out at quite short notice, I’m both excited and somewhat daunted by the challenge of actually having a proper amount of time to prepare and shape my story for the anniversary show. Perhaps paradoxically, the last-minute nature of my preparation has always acted as a sort of buffer to nervousness. This time though, I’ve got weeks and weeks to get it right, to draft and redraft, practice, practice, practice… and far too many opportunities for nerves and anxieties to find their way into my set up. Still, you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth…
Anyway… Graham, Suggs, Joe, Alice, Shaky and Brodes - that makes five, which, as you know, is usually a full lineup. However, as it’s our anniversary, we’re reverting, for one night only, to our original six-person lineup, which means we’re still tracking down one final storyteller for you for this very special show. (It also means you’re getting 16.6% extra OneTrackMinds for your money if you’re coming on May 20th! Whoop whoop!). If all goes to plan, we’ll announce that final guest in next week’s newsletter…
As of sending this email, there are only 19 tickets left for our anniversary show. If you’ve not bagged your ticket yet, and you want to come and help us celebrate ten year of OneTrackMinds, then please don’t hang around. I’ll be very surprised if there are that many left by this time next week…
Some other things to share with you this week:
Huge congratulations to our very lovely friend and former OneTrackMinds storyteller Tom Edden, who took home an Olivier award on Sunday night for Best Actor In A Supporting Role in a Musical. Here’s a challenge: try and watch his acceptance speech without crying…
The marvellous Ed Blunt - singer-songwriter and choirmaster of our friends and collaborators Camden Voices - is about to embark on a massive nationwide tour in May. Ed is a bloody delight, and a fantastic musician. Definitely go and see him if you can. Tour dates here.
A book recommendation from my week in bed - George Saunders’ new novel Vigil, which was published back in February (and which Adam gifted to me, along with a ticket to see the great man in conversation with Richard Ayoade), and I finally got around to reading it during my convalescence. It’s a very quick read - less than 200 pages - and a deeply affecting and typically empathetic piece of writing. It’s very funny in parts, and it left me in tears by the end. It’s only out in hardback at the moment, which is a bit of a bummer, but I’d say more than worth the cost.
Talking of hardbacks, I enjoyed this piece from Tom Rowley at Backstory about why publishers persist with hardbacks despite no one really liking them…
The Guardian put together a list of the 10 Soundtracks That Changed The Way We Listen To Movies.
Another enjoyable Substack read from Hannah Bay - An Analog Adventure (without buying more things)
Right, that’ll do… We’re hoping to be able to announce a couple of our Anniverary Storytellers later this week, so watch this space… Otherwise we’ll be back on Monday with more from OneTrackMinds HQ…
KB.
Anniversary Show - May 20th 2026 - Wiltons Music Hall | Tickets Here
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