Current mood:BURNING OPPORTUNITIES!!!!
Category: MySpace
OK...
GOOD LOVE LATVIAN POSITIVITY DONE!!!!
I'm back to commenting on complaining...
A year or two back I did this piece for Fix Magazine in answer to a request for a Q&A for 4-500 words...
It was done at very short notice and in double quick time because the editor was dis-organised...
So, I turned up to DJ at the 4th Pull Up A Chair night, with my gold painted face and thought I was special…
No-one could trump such a wonderful and innovative display of individuality and personal freedom could they? Not even TVs very own Mr Ross Lee!!
Yes boss, no sooner had I settled into my corner, than a gentleman walked in, who not only had a painted BLUE face, but was also clad in a BLUE cape and a builders helmet to boot?!?!
It however took until the man himself (who I now know to be Mr Jim'll Brain) played a song about stalking, that a plan found itself.
"AHA!!!" I thought "I'll stalk Jim'll Brain and batter him with my clever words, that'll show him!!"
So, a week of intensive skulduggery later and I found myself in a pub opposite Mr Brain, and I started to give him a proper volley of my best and top words…
Jim'll Brain looked back at me, calm, unconcerned and content:
"Well, I'm trying to do something different with the genre. You know the whole singer song writer thing. It's too cute and introspective. I figured I'd wear a cape and a blue face and put on a show and see where it got me. I mean I'm just enjoying writing and playing and if I can provoke a little and look weird, why not?"
Of course, I could claim I then sunk my best critical knife into Mr Brain - but I didn't...
"FUCKING JESUS??!!?? WHAT'S ALL THIS CRAP WITH DOING PERFORMANCES IN BLUE FACE PAINT"
But I was soon surprised.
Yes boss, Jim'lls Brain does comedy songs that are soulful and not wacky or stupid. Tunes that can raise a laugh and skip around and over tricky and unfunny issues like stalking, fame, mental health and mental wealth and I have to say I was thoroughly charmed.
Back at the pub....
"I'm just trying to write as I see things. That's all" Jim'll said, as I wondered if there was anyway I could beat this man. "I'm caught up in the 70's really, when there was a bit of a performance going on to go with the lyrics. People say I'm sabotaging myself by wearing all this gear and maybe I am. I really wouldn't mind it if someone threw a rotten vegetable at me, in fact I'd encourage that. I love a challenge…"
"But do you think you're gonna get famous doing it this way?"
http://www.myspace.com/paulgiovanni3rd
So, I'd tracked the interviewee down, done the interview and wrote this piece (or one very similar to it) all within 24 hours - Jim'll loved it, I loved it, even Harry at Fix Magazine loved it but i got this email...
Hi Paul thats not a short Q and A of 4 -500 words. That is a short article of 600 words.
I'm gonna have to drop it I'm afraid. It's a good piece but it's not what I'm looking for for this. I've redone it,as am on deadline for print today. Started again from scratch.
Sorry about that.
To which I replied...
Jesus Harry..
and then
Well, I was appalled that someone could REJECT MY WORK!!!
AND REVOKE MY CREATIVE LICENSE!!!!
So I published the blog detailing the whole dispute, and sent Harry the link to it...
Harry commented me back about how he'd one shat in someones fridge...?!?!.
I then threw my toys out of the cot, stopped DJaying at his night, cut my ties with the mag, with him and with a bunch of promoter friends of his who were blowing smoke up my ass with talk of giving me regular paying DJ gigs
and moved on...
Well, I'd forgotten all about him and Fix Magazine, then today, I read this...
The Fix takes over Myspace comedy
Current mood: 
ashamed
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes
When Myspace asked me if the Fix would like to launch Myspace comedy with an editorial take-over of their site, I thought it would be a privilege. When I found out what they actually meant was "would the Fix like to take over Myspace comedy after Russell Howard had already launched it", this felt like less of a privilege. But I guess it is still an honour of some sort.
So what is the Fix, I hear you ask, and why the hell should it take over Myspace comedy anyway? Well the Fix is the UK's only nationally distributed comedy magazine, available at over 140 comedy clubs and independent retailers – pubs, bars record shops etc…. But the Fix is more than just a magazine, it's a lifestyle choice. In the same way that stealing a frozen chicken from Lidl is the lifestyle choice of many heroin addicts.
The Fix showcases the best new comedy talent and gives them a platform to develop, much in the same way that the Myspace comedy channel hopes to. I do hope they do a better job than the Fix though. In the Fix's short two year existence, it has lost over 30k, I have had several nervous breakdowns and not one comedians career has been furthered by their appearance in the magazine. If anything it's destroyed more careers than it's helped.
Hopefully all this will change with our Myspace takeover, as the door is unlocked on 120 million users worldwide. Either that or the Fix's curse unleashed worldwide will destroy all of comedy. I once unlocked a door. It was to Pandora's box. Contrary to the popular Greek myth, when all the evils of the world had flown out all that was left was not hope, but despair. With a note attached saying you must start a comedy empire.
Enjoy
http://uk.myspace.com/comedyuk
WHOOPS!!!!!
 | Currently listening: Career Opportunities By Original Soundtrack Release date: 1991-04-23 |
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