Mea Culpa
A week to go until our busiest run of shows ever... PLUS a Discount Code that actually works!
Hello friends! I hope you’re all well and that 2024 is treating you kindly.
Before we get going properly, an apology. Actually, a couple of apologies. First off, despite promising myself very, very firmly not to, it turns out that I’ve overstretched myself again.
Horribly and embarrassingly so.
Drunk on the buzz and excitement of a New Year, I’ve taken on too many things, set myself too many new challenges, and basically run myself into the ground. And all within the first two weeks of the year. Which on one level is quite impressive, but on a deeper level is, really, really embarrassing.
The point is this - all that fuss I made last week about us relaunching our album club… I’m afraid was a fuss about nothing. I can’t do it. As much as I’d love to, I just don’t have the time at the moment, what with the show (shows I should say - five coming up in the next two weeks!), my day job, and my family commitments, I’m afraid it’s just too… extra at the moment. It’s very possible that the OneTrackMinds Album Club isn’t something you even wanted or will care that much when it’s gone (certainly, it’s not like we’ve been overcome by a flood of comments/feedback from you guys). But nevertheless, I’m sad about it. Perhaps it will come back again when (if) I ever get the time to give it the focus it needs.
Secondly, and very possibly a symptom of the above (or, more likely, just a symptom of me being a pillock), it turns out that I’ve been giving out the wrong discount code for our live shows. As you may know, the lovely team at Wilton’s have set up a discount for our loyal supporters (that’s you!), whereby you can buy the best tickets in the house (usually £18) for just £11 each. Despite what I might have told you several times over past newsletters, the code is not OTMCrew, but instead, it’s OTMCast. You can see where I went wrong. It’s an easy mistake to make. Especially if you’re overstretched etc etc, see above. Anyway… if you’ve tried to book a ticket using the erroneous discount code I sent out before only to find it wouldn’t work, but you nevertheless booked your tickets all the same and paid full-whack, I understand that Wilton’s will refund you the difference if you can be bothered to call them up and explain what happened. And if you haven’t booked yet but are tempted by the idea of a night of storytelling and music at a bargain price, then you can still take advantage of it for all our upcoming shows by going to the Live Show section on our website. ]
We’re less than a week away now from our January shows, and tickets are selling very nicely, which is maybe not surprising given the fantastic lineup of wonderful storytellers we have on our bill for you. Charlie Gilmour, Johnny Cochrane and Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett are some of the new names joining old friends like Rob Deering and Pauline Eyre over the two nights. It’s going to be lovely.
Then, scarcely two weeks later, we’ve got THREE more shows lined up on February 2nd and 3rd, including our first ever matinee on Saturday 3rd. I feel a little bit like we’ve not given our February shows the attention they deserve because of just how close they are to our January shows (again, see above vis a vis being overstretched…), so here’s a bit of a rundown of what to expect over that first Feb weekend.
On Friday 2nd, our headliner will be the marvellous DJ, musician, composer and visionary Matthew Herbert. I wrote about Matthew’s most recent album The Horse in one of our newsletters last year - it’s an incredible suite of instrumental tracks, each one created using instruments fashioned from the carcass of a horse. It’s eery and beautiful, and indicative of just what a fascinating character Matthew is.
Also on February 2nd, we’ll be joined by author, critic, podcaster and programmer Anna Bogutskaya. Her first book, Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You To Hate was published last year, and is a fascinating look at the way in which women have traditionally been portrayed in popular culture. She’s also a regular guest on the Kermode and Mayo podcast, and host of her own show The Final Girls.
Anna and Matthew will be joined by Meganne Christian who is - get this - a proper, genuine, actual ASTRONAUT and general delightful human being, up and coming film director Alicia MacDonald, and actor and funny man Tom Edden.
On Saturday lunchtime, our matinee headliner is the fantastic author and screenwriter Georgia Pritchett.
She’s one of the lead writers on the best TV show ever written, Succession, and has written for Veep, The Thick of It and Miranda. She’s also the author of a fantastically funny memoir, My Mess Is A Bit of A Life, which was published by Faber in 2022.
Also published by Faber is one of my favourite books of the last few years, Boy Friends, and we’re delighted that the author of that absolute gem of a memoir, Michael Pedersen, is also our guest on Saturday 2nd.
Boy Friends is a gorgeous examination of perhaps the most neglected of human relationships, male friendship, and focuses specifically on Michael’s friendship with the singer, songwriter and Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison. I know OneTrackMinds is all about life-changing music, but Boy Friends is a genuinely life-changing book (and don’t just take my word for it - Stephen Fry called it “Astonishingly compelling”, and the first six pages of the paperback copy I have are filled with rave reviews from the likes of Shirley Manson, Jackie Kay, Salena Godden, Andrew O’Hagan and Kae Tempest). Michael is a delight, too, and we can’t wait to hear the story of a song that changed his life…
Also on our matinee show, we have author, journalist and cultural commentator Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Coronation Street actor Natalie Gumede and our Hidden Tracks graduate Nina Gotua.
Then (somehow!) that same evening, we have another show, when our headliner will be the wonderful singer-songwriter and BRIT-Award winner Jack Garratt.
And joining Jack that evening will be comedian and actor John Luke Roberts, spiritual life-coach Jade Bovingdon and our Hidden Tracks storyteller Vivienne Egan. Plus, one more very special guest yet to be announced…
So how about that? No wonder I’m exhausted already! But despite my carping, I cannot wait. It’s going to be a wonderful weekend, and I hope I’ll see you there.
Don’t forget the correct discount code - OTMCast - to get full price tickets for just £11.
We’ll be back on Monday. Until then, have a very lovely weekend.
KB.