Introducing...
... our (very nearly complete) January 2024 Lineups. And more, from OneTrackMinds HQ.
Hello friends! Gah, I’m a whole day late again, and although I have some excuses which I feel you’ll accept as reasonable and fair, the delay has nevertheless added to the ongoing sense of chaos and disorder that tends to come around this time of year. So manic have things been that I found myself pining for my school days, when things really did start to wind down as we got closer and closer to Christmas. Nowadays, the opposite seems true - there are more and more things to do, and less and less time to do them in. Hence the flapping, and the delays.
However, I come bearing good tidings! Specifically, news of our (very nearly complete) lineup of storytellers for our first shows of the year, which are barely a month away on January 18th and 19th at Wilton’s Music Hall.
On Thursday January 18th, we’re joined by our old friend, and two-time OneTrackMinds veteran, comedian Rob Deering; Guardian journalist and author Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett; theatre-maker, actor, writer and musician Callum Hughes; and scientist Anna Cupani.1
While on Friday January 19th, we’ll be hearing stories about life-changing songs from another old friend, and three-time OneTrackMinds veteran, comedian Pauline Eyre; journalist and author of the staggeringly brilliant memoir Featherhood, Charlie Gilmour; storytellers Roann Hassani McCloskey and James Rowland; and artist and curator Kobi Prempeh.
You know you can expect two fantastic nights of music and storytelling, from some genuinely wonderful human beings. It’s going to be wonderful, as it always is. And, as loyal friends of our show, we’re giving you exclusive access to our discount code, which gives you 33% off the top price tickets - meaning you can get the best-seats in the house for just £11.
This offer is capped at just 50 tickets per night, so if you want to take advantage of this amazing deal, you had better act quickly. Tickets are available from the Wilton’s Box Office - enter the code OTMCREW for the special loyalty discount.
Other things to tell you about…
A truly, truly wonderful novel. One of the other reasons I didn’t get around to doing this newsletter yesterday was that, by the time I got in from work, I was 50 pages shy of finishing Paul Murray’s truly wonderful Booker Prize-nominated novel The Bee Sting, and I couldn’t tear myself away. It is a genuinely brilliant novel - how it didn’t win the Booker in the end, I don’t know (but then I’ve not read the winning novel Prophet Song by fellow-Irishman Paul Lynch, so who am I to judge). It’s currently only out in hardback, which makes for a pricey gift, I know, but if you’re looking for a Christmas present that will stay in your giftee’s heart for ever and ever, then look no further than this beautiful novel.
A superb movie to stream. Around this time three years ago, I read another terrific novel, Rumaan Alam’s end-of-the-world thriller Leave The World Behind. “Damn”, I said to myself as I finished it, “that would make a brilliant movie”. And I was right. Because Sam Esmail (creator of Mr. Robot) has adapted and expanded it into a really gripping and highly enjoyable thriller for Netflix, starring Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali and Ethan Hawke. We watched it last night, and it shook me right up. It’s brilliant in its own right, but it’s one of the best adaptations of a novel I’ve seen on screen in ages. Highly recommended.
Here are Pitchfork’s 10 Best Music Books of 2023.
And The New York Times’s Best Jazz Albums of the Year.
Also in The NYT, I enjoyed this article by Holly Burns about why Live Music Is a Time Machine.
OneTrackMinds alumna and legendary human person Jane Horrocks is reprising her role as Ginger in the new Chicken Run sequel, which was released in cinemas last week. Here she talks to Rich Pelley in The Guardian about, among other things, her amazing singing voice.
Right, that’ll do. Thanks for reading, as always. We’ll be back next week for what will probably be our last newsletter of the year… don’t miss it. Until then,
KB.
Yes, the numerically astute among you will realise we’re still missing a guest for our Jan 18th lineup. We’re holding this one back for a very special announcement…